


Oathkeeper

by egoblow



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Blood Drinking, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Death, Former Lovers - Freeform, M/M, Mind Manipulation, Monster Moira O'Deorain, Psychic Violence, Vampire Hanzo Shimada, Vampire Jesse McCree
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-10 21:02:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18415790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egoblow/pseuds/egoblow
Summary: The Hunter's Oath, an unspoken rule among their numbers, meant putting a Hunter to their final rest by slaying them should they fall to the very terrors that they hunted.When Hanzo is stolen by the night, Jesse is determined to give his former lover and Hunting partner his eternal peace by slaying the vampire that claims to be him.But a Hunt with Gabriel goes horribly wrong, leaving Jesse on the brink of death and at the mercy of Hanzo. To carry out his one last mission, Jesse must do the unthinkable and become the very thing he despises.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... it's here! Really excited to drop this fic on you all. It's quite possibly the longest completed work I've written and I'm really excited for how it turned out. It was my first time doing a Big Bang challenge and it was definitely a journey. 
> 
> Much love to the artists that I worked with. [aerascreamer](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com) (+ [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aerascreamer/)) contributed artwork to help bring this supernatural au to life.  
> First piece: Lineart by [akhsart](https://akhsart.tumblr.com/), colored by [aerascreamer](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com/)  
> Second piece by [aerascreamer](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com/)
> 
> You can check out the art made for Oathkeeper [here](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com/post/184077777486/hello-people-i-am-glad-to-finally-post-my-two).

The Hunter stared down at a young man, a boy really, who sat in a tiny bed fit for his modest livelihood. The young man was a sickly thing with sallow skin and a neck covered in a sea of bandages. A boy on the very edge of death.

"It--" The young man hesitated as he tried to recall details that remained lost in the haze of his injuries.

"The monster," The Hunter prompted, growling around the cigarillo that hung from his lips.

The young man squinted in the darkness to get a better look at the Hunter. When the Hunter sucked in a bit of that vanilla smoke, the angry red glow of the ember illuminated some of his features. Perhaps it was the soft lighting of the room, but the young man swore he could see a softness in his cheeks similar to his own. The fat of a man who had yet to grow into his features, into a chiseled jawline or a beard thick with time.

But the smoke-and-whiskey texture of his voice and the distant look in the Hunter's honey eyes contradicted these glimpses of softness. While bedridden in his frailty, the young man seemed like a child in the presence of the Hunter. There was a lightness to the young man in the way he held himself. A lightness that spoke of no stones of burden to weigh down his shoulders and deepen the crease between his brows.

"Well-" The young man started as he found himself unable to meet the hard honey gaze of the Hunter. They were eyes of someone who had seen too much of this world, too much of all the horrors. The young man averted his gaze and found himself staring at a tiny diamond-shaped crystal that hung from the Hunter's neck by a thin leather cord. It fell delicately to the center of the Hunter's chest, a bright nearly-glowing blue that sharply contrasted against the browns and blacks of the Hunter's leathers.

"It wore something like that," The young man gestured at the crystal. It was beautiful in its simplicity and perfect symmetry. He lifted his gaze to meet the Hunter's in an hopeful request for approval in this interrogation.

The Hunter tipped his head forward in a slight gesture of appreciation. "Go on."

"It was- beautiful. Skin as white as-- as milk! And hair-- As pretty as a horse's mane. Just long and real soft-looking," The young man sighed, eyes closing in remembrance. He lifted his hand to rest it on the side of his neck. The torn flesh throbbed beneath his touch and pulsed beneath the layers of bandages. Despite the pain, the young man smiled. "Really makes you understand when they talk about moths and flames. I knew it was evil- pure evil- but all he did was look at me and I was- I couldn't-"

The young man pressed down on his wound, using the pain to bring him back to that moment. The nerves, alight with damage, screamed and brought his hazy recollection into sharp focus. "Never seen anything so beautiful in my life."

"They do that. Glamour," The Hunter dropped the waning cigarillo and stubbed it out  with the toe of his boot. It would certainly burn a mark into the wooden floor. "You're lucky to be alive."

The young man drew in a slow breath, lost still in the memories of that perfect, beautiful creature. "It-- No-- He said the same thing."

A soft sigh, full of longing and contentment. "He looked sad too-- Like he was upset that--"

"They don't feel!" The Hunter snapped with such an explosion of anger that left the young man cowering. "Best remember that lest you want to waste your good fortunes, kid."

"Y-yes sir," The young man stammered out in a rush to ease the situation.

"Good," The Hunter turned to leave.

"There was something else too. About him- It," The young man cautiously volunteered. The Hunter eased back into his spot to face the young man expectantly.

"What?"

"It had the finest piece of art I'd ever seen. Stained on its arm like someone painted it-- this one," The young man gestured to his left arm. "Blue I think, with another monster screaming down."

The Hunter remained quiet, considering the information. Eventually, he nodded as if he found the description to be satisfactory. The Hunter reached for something tucked by his back. He pulled out a slim stake made of wooden with a tip gleaming with silver. He held it up for the young man to see.

"If that thing ever shows up on your door then you better shove this straight through its heart," The Hunter tapped at the spot on himself, jostling his necklace so that the blue crystal danced madly in the firelight. "Right here. Straight through with everythin' you got."

"To kill it?" The young man looked almost aghast at the suggestion. Still, he took the stake from the Hunter and considered the weight of it in his hands.

"Don't think, just do it. Hesitate for even a breath and you'll be as good as dead. Y'hear?"

Overwhelmed, but too intimidated to protest the statement, the young man nodded in agreement. "Yes sir."

The Hunter straightened up and tilted his hat in acknowledgement. The flame of the lamp caught some of his handsome features that had been twisted by the burdens of being a Hunter. 

"Good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Art](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com/post/184077777486/hello-people-i-am-glad-to-finally-post-my-two) from [aerascreamer](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com) (+ [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aerascreamer/)).
> 
>  
> 
> [follow me on tumblr](egoblow.tumblr.com)


	2. Chapter 2

Out at the edge of a forest by Adlersbrunn where a large boulder split a path into two, Jesse took the left path as instructed by the young man. The Sun was starting to fade beneath the horizon. Its bright red and orange hues seemed to warn of fools who dare enter Adlersbrunn at night. The forest at night was certainly a frightening place that no one dared step into, not even lonesome Hunters.

But Jesse McCree was not a simple Hunter. He was a Hunter of the Blackwatch clan, a name so notorious that even the mortal men that they protected shuddered at its mention.

One hand held a wooden stake while the other rested on the chilly metal of Peacekeeper. Jesse McCree feared nothing when he had Peacekeeper in hand. He moved with hesitant, soft movements that an eager predator might denote as easy prey. An anxious traveler foolishly steps through the treacherous territory of the night's nefarious evils... It was simple bait, but it never failed to draw out the horrors that Jesse McCree was searching for. 

And it did not take long to be found. 

Though his eyes were sharp and ears keen, the monster found him first.

"Why did you come?" The Monster asked from behind Jesse.

Jesse turned with the stake ready to strike, but the Monster had flitted away. It slipped back into the cover of the thick forest, away from the trodden paths.

"To put you down," Jesse declared as he pulled out Peacekeeper.

The rustling in a spot to his right begged for a shot in the dark. He fired, eyes wildly looking about to see if the shot had sent the Monster fleeing in another direction.

They danced like that under the slender beams of moonlight peeking through the trees. The Monster always flitted away, using its speed and agility to its advantage to avoid Jesse's gaze for too long. Still, as they moved deeper and deeper into the forest, Jesse caught flashes of the Monster's features. A patch of milky skin, a jawline defined by a groomed beard, a blue dragon roaring down a muscled arm...

They were all pieces of a body that Jesse knew as intimately as his own. The sum of all those parts painted a picture of the man that Jesse was in search of.

But there were other elements that distorted the picture. The glow of bright red eyes or the prominent curve of sharp fangs, for example. They corrupted the visage of the man he loved, and reminded him of a fate that he so desperately wished wasn't real. They were traits that any Hunter worth their salt would know, adding up to the feared vampires that Jesse detested most. Vampires combined all the cunning of their human counterparts with nasty, relentless cruelty. They were parasites who lived off the blood and suffering of humans. 

It was a painful reality. The Hanzo Shimada that he knew- and loved- died the night he had disappeared. It was a hard truth that could not be escaped. Hanzo had disappeared one night and had returned a monster. 

"Leave!" The Monster ordered as if Jesse was the one intruding. The sound of the deep, growling voice sent a pang through his heart. The Monster, with its fangs and all, sounded just as Hanzo did.

"Stand still why dontcha?" Jesse growled, slamming the stake into the blur of blue and black. The tip embedded itself into the trunk of the tree. Jesse abandoned it in favor of another kept within reach on his belt.

"The Hunter's Oath?" Finally, the Monster stood before him. Its gaze flicked from the stake to Peacekeeper before settling on Jesse. Jesse shuddered under the stare and made a point to avoid its eyes.  _ Glamour.  _ Glamour could be used to influence him in awful ways.  _ If  _ he allowed that to happen.

Jesse fired Peacekeeper, but the Monster seemed to anticipate such an action. It moved, a blur, until it reappeared a few steps behind Jesse.

"There is more to all of this than that. We were naive to indulge in such beliefs," The Monster spat out before moving again to avoid the next gunshot.

"Don't fancy you usin' his voice like that. Ain't very respectful," Jesse growled as he fired again. Another miss and three more bullets to go before he'd be vulnerable while reloading.

He tried to focus on the Monster, knowing that it outmatched him in speed and strength. Mortal humans were fragile little things compared to vampires. Most vampire hunts happened during the daytime or in large hunting groups. Though he was of the Blackwatch clan, it was a foolish idea for Jesse to come here alone.

"His voice?" The Monster snorted as it hid in the thick brush of the forest, off the beaten path. " **_My_ ** voice. I am no possessed--"

"You are!" Jesse snarled. "Possessed by a monster, by the evil corrupting your soul-"

"Jesse-"

"Don't!" Jesse whipped around, trying to track the Monster as the leaves rustled madly. "Hanzo's dead, and it's about time I put his body to rest. If you really were him, you'd get that."

Every Hunter knew their Oath. It was an important promise for an occupation so perilous and rife with danger. A Hunter's life was never easy, but the peace of mind that the Hunter's Oath gave was enough for most to forge on. The Hunter's Oath, an unspoken rule among their numbers, meant putting a Hunter to their final rest by slaying them should they fall to the very terrors that they hunted. It meant slaying the monsters that arose from the defeated bodies of Hunters, whether possessed, corrupted, or turned.

It was a small solace to know that their likeness would not continue on, terrorizing the very people that they died to protect.

Five month ago, Jesse McCree declared to all Hunters that the Hunter's Oath in honor of the fallen Shimada would be kept by him alone. For any others to hunt it would be a slap to the face of Gabriel Reyes' shining pupil.

Two months ago, Jesse McCree, though battered, had emerged victorious from a fight with the younger Shimada to earn this right. To be the one to lay Hanzo Shimada to a final rest. 

"Things change," The Monster stopped before Jesse. It was beautiful in the moonlight and lit a craving deep in Jesse’s gut. Like phantoms ghosting along his fingers, he could remember the surprising softness of Hanzo’s hair and the burning warmth of his bare skin. His thoughts broke suddenly.

_ Glamour. _ A trap for Jesse McCree, who could never deny anything to the Shimada son.

"It's me, Jesse-- Hanzo!" The Monster implored. The tiny step forward was enough to spur Jesse’s instincts into action.

A shot bit through the oppressive silence of the forest. Jesse’s ears rang, his trigger finger buzzing with the force of the blow-back. His gaze locked with the Monster’s before sliding down to where red bloomed into the fabric of its clothes.

The shot had just narrowly missed its home in the Monster's heart.

Betrayal soon contorted the Monster’s face.

_ Hanzo's face _ , a sick part of his mind would always correct him as if loss wasn't enough. As if his mind deemed his crimes so severe that they would need to torment Jesse with the reminder of how he failed Hanzo. Of how he let a monster spirit his partner away, and to corrupt him into a detestable beast.

A beast that he could not kill.

The shot, aimed for the heart, had pierced the Monster’s stomach and, though it was not lethal to the vampire, it had shredded something wholly intangible. Something that had taken years to build.

"Jesse," The Monster who wore Hanzo's face gasped out.

Jesse shuddered, some invisible hand clenching his heart with the thought that he had shot at Hanzo, _ his Hanzo _ , while logic declared it to be another monster. That was the strength of a vampire's Glamour, wasn't it? To trick the mind into believing something that wasn't real. The monster wore Hanzo's face, but it wasn't truly Hanzo. It wasn't the proud son of the Shimada Hunters or the quietly witty man who once warmed his beds. 

There simply couldn't be a world where such a fate could befall Hanzo, where Hanzo would become the thing they hunted, but it had happened. This was the reality that Jesse now faced. 

"You're not him," Jesse snarled in return, hoping desperately to shake off the uncertainty the Monster had placed upon him. His heart and his mind warred against each other as he watched the Monster clutch at the wound, still moving away from where Jesse stood.

Like a coward-- A beast that knew its fate-- and Jesse knew that more than anything, Hanzo Shimada never backed down from anything.

Mind made, Jesse lifted Peacekeeper and lined up his second shot. He wouldn't miss this time.

Jesse fired his second shot, aim lined for where the heart was. The Monster screamed again in agony as the bullet found its home in its left arm. Dark blood poured forth from the wound, looking as though the blue dragon painted on its arm was the one bleeding.

"Jesse- Stop!" The Monster gasped out.

Jesse paused when faced with such an agonized expression.  _ Hanzo, Hanzo, _ his heart called out with each painful beat. He hesitated on his next shot, a fatal mistake for Hunters.

But the Monster retreated and left only spots of blood in its wake.

He should run after him and finish it. Guarantee that it would never prey on mortals while wearing the likeness of someone so precious. 

But Jesse didn’t give chase with legs too weakened to even hold the weight of his burdens. The hunter collapsed to the ground, body shaking in its anguish before he could choke out his first sob. Screams bellowed forth, unintelligible, but full of fury at the misery that fate had given him.

Hunters were never supposed to partake in life’s pleasures, not when tasked with such a grave duty to protect. Perhaps the cruel loss of Hanzo was a reminder from the fates that this was his life, a life of a Hunter.

Jesse McCree of the Blackwatch clan was a Hunter first and foremost. A Hunter with a singular truth before him.

Hanzo Shimada was dead. He had already been dead by the time Jesse had found him again. Jesse knew that as a simple truth, the same as all the truths Hunters functioned on: Monsters could not deny what they were when the instincts kicked in. Werewolves shredded apart human flesh under the influence of a full moon, the possessed were beholden to the wishes of their demons, and vampires would always crave the blood that fueled them. Monsters, regardless of who they once were, would always prey on humans. They would always kill and torment their mortal counterparts like they had with Jesse's family.

They needed to be hunted for that reason, to end their terror before more mortals fell to such predators.

But yet, when faced with striking down the Monster that had once been Hanzo, Jesse found himself unable to pull the trigger.

Unable to keep the Hunter's Oath and to do his duty to his late lover.

For that, he would always be a failure to Hanzo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Art](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com/post/184077777486/hello-people-i-am-glad-to-finally-post-my-two) from [aerascreamer](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com) (+ [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aerascreamer/)).
> 
>  
> 
> [follow me on tumblr](egoblow.tumblr.com)


	3. Chapter 3

"A bounty so large I reckon we can make our way down south for the winter. Be nice and warm by the time snow falls," Jesse McCree of the Blackwatch clan, declared as he slapped down a flyer.

The man before him raised a delicate brow at the declared bounty: a women with fair hair and dark lips smirked from the paper with the words VAMPIRE - 10K GOLD written beneath her image. Hanzo had no need for such bounties, not after their recent hunt with a pack of werewolves.

"I have little desire to venture south. It is hot and I do not enjoy the stickiness," Hanzo turned his attention back to his bow, running his fingers along the taut string. "Why not go with your father?"

"For god's sake, Hanz, he's not my father," Jesse snapped at him in an exchange as familiar as breathing.

Hanzo snorted, ducking his head to hide his smile. "You whine at him like Genji would to our father. I see no difference even if he did not spawn you."

"'Cause I ain't lettin' him boss me around," Jesse huffed as he dropped his body next to Hanzo, crowding him on the bench. It earned him a swift elbow to the gut.

"A shame. I would have enjoyed asking him for your hand," A gleeful expression sharpened Hanzo's gaze. "I would ask for your hand with the most dangerous bounty of beasts."

Jesse laughed, punching Hanzo in the shoulder in joy. "Easy there, he might get pissed at you for stealing his kills."

"Ah, but time after time, he tells me that I am no good for you. Wouldn't this prove my worth?" Hanzo swatted Jesse's hands around, gaze turning serious. “I would. Collect a thousand bounties just to give Reyes a dowry for you.”

"Aw, darlin', no need to worry your pretty lil' head about that. He likes you plenty," Jesse grinned at him. "Even got us some matchin' jewelry."

"Jewelry?" Hanzo cocked his head to one side before sputtering out an alarmed, "Rings?"

Jesse pulled out a pair of necklaces from behind him. From thin leather cords hung a tiny blue crystal that emitted a soft light. Jesse presented one to Hanzo before slipping the other around his neck. "Gabe got 'em for us."

Hanzo took a moment to appreciate the perfect symmetry of the crystal before pulling it on himself. "What an odd gift."

Jesse shook his head. "A ceap one if you ask me. He got the same thing for Jack and himself. Said he got a good bargain for ‘em," The Hunter held up the tiny crystal. "Guess there's some enchantress who makes 'em. Some real romantic mumbo jumbo if you ask me."

Hanzo snorted. "Oh?"

"Two halves of a whole. Something about how these two lil' things always findin' each other," Jesse tucked his back beneath his shirt. "Load of crap if you ask me. Gabe's a real softie for pretty words."

Hanzo smirked, patting it gently where it fell at the center of his chest. "I shall treasure it-- This gift from your father."

"For fuck's sake, Hanz, Gabe's not my father."

 

The memory wavered at the corner of his consciousness.

Jesse stared down at the crystal in his hand. The necklace had a habit of dragging up foul memories, and reminding him of moments that hurt so much that he couldn’t breathe. It was a remnant of the past, and a constant reminder of his failure to strike down his former lover.

The crystal was devoid of any light it once emitted, indicating the lengthy distance between itself and its matching pair. He had to wonder if the Monster had kept Hanzo's or if it had been abandoned somewhere. Tossed away just like its mortal owner. Dull and heavy with memories, Jesse half-considered pawning off the crystal to some hapless fool. At least it was worth enough to buy him a pint for his troubles.

But he was the hapless fool, clinging to meaningless promises and thinking that he could do anything. Even if the crystal were to lead him back to the Monster who had once been Hanzo, Jesse was hesitant to say whether he could drive a stake through its heart. There was no doubt in his mind that his affection for the former Hunter clouded his judgement though he was bound by duty to the Hunter’s Oath. A duty that Hanzo's brother had no trouble reminding him of with his fists.

Perhaps a Hunter’s life wasn’t for him. All the anger and the hatred that once fueled him could no longer sustain him. Anger had been a powerful tool when the night had stolen away his parents. Hatred, as encouraged by those in the Blackwatch clan, pushed him to hone his craft as a Hunter, but what was left to kill Hanzo? Anger could only be directed at himself for allowing Hanzo to be taken. Hatred could only go so far before the lack of direction had him floundering with no purpose.

There was duty too, duty to give Hanzo his final rest by killing the Monster that had stolen its body, but Jesse knew himself to be weak. Knew that the pained looks and anguished cries that looked like Hanzo and sounded like Hanzo would be too much for him to bear alone. He was a failure in that regard, unworthy of the love of the feared Shimada clan’s son.

Jesse gulped down the pint in his hand and gestured for another. He still had a few more drinks to go before he would need to pawn off his crystal for another.

Quietly, he hoped to pass out before then.

"A hunt would do him some good," Jack murmured as he nodded at the hunched-over form by the bar.

"You don't think it's too soon?" Gabriel sighed, eyes similarly focused on the same target.

"He needs a distraction until he's ready. Something to put his mind until he's good enough to move on," The pair slid into a comfortable silence. They were seated towards the back of the tavern, a spot usually reserved for them. They sat close to each other, enough for Gabriel to keep a casual hand on Jack's thigh without raising curious looks from the other patrons.

"I told him. Told him that that son of a bitch would be the death of him," Gabriel snorted, emphasizing his declaration with a gentle squeeze to Jack's thigh.

"I believe my cousins said the same thing about you," The comment was spoken with withering dryness, but Gabriel could see the tiniest tilt of Jack's lips.

Still, the somber mood remained between them as they watched their companion down another pint. Losing a Hunter was a harsh reality of their occupation. Most tended to get used to it until they were numbed by the losses. Still, it didn't lessen the pain when it was someone so close. It was only by miracle, and a testament of their skill, that Jack and Gabriel had survived together for so long. 

"Goddamn, he's just a kid, Jack," Gabriel huffed as he rubbed his face in exhaustion.

"You've said that for how many years now? If it's not a hunt like this then it won't be long before he goes off looking for him again," Jack slid his hand over Gabe's, letting his warmth seep into his partner's.

"Might as well. Put that poor bastard to rest," Gabriel huffed.

"You know it's not that easy," Exacerbated, Jack pushed Gabriel's hand off his leg. "Consider his feelings before your silly grudges with the Shimada. Look out for him."

Gabriel sighed harshly, frustration clear in the way his brows furrowed. "I always do."

Jack smiled. "I'll leave you two to it. We'll call it a father-son hunt."

Gabriel snorted at the suggestion, but still rose to get moving. "He's hardly my kid."

But he nodded. He had always known a simple hunt to cure him of his own emotional ailments.

  
  


A simple hunt. That was all it was supposed to be. Rumors spoke of banshee out near Adlersbrunn. Ear plugs with a well-aimed shot from Peacekeeper should have been everything that they needed to collect on a modest bounty. That was how it was supposed to be. Simple, easy. A kick in the ass from Gabriel and a baby step back for Jesse.

But nothing in his life ever went right.

"What a perfect specimen you shall become," The words echoed in his ears, cloying in their smug sweetness.

Jesse lifted his head, but the words weren't meant for him. His limbs struggled to respond to him as he crawled forth, needing to grab Peacekeeper to shoot. The gun laid abandoned only a foot away, but the distance warped itself under the duress of pain and exhaustion.

They had been ambushed in the midst of their hunt, and the monster’s dark magic had seemingly sucked the energy from his body. He was so tired, so tempted to lay supine and sleep even as Gabriel struggled in the binds of their predator.

"Gabriel Reyes, the great Hunter," The voice cooed.

Jesse turned his gaze to the sight before him. A tall, thin grey woman stood before his mentor. Gabriel was splayed out on the ground with limbs bound by some dark purple tendrils. He struggled to break free, but the tendrils held fast even against the Hunter's bulging muscles.

"Such a fitting addition," She continued as she dragged a long, tapered claw down the center of Gabriel's chest. The razor-sharp edge of the nail easily sliced through his leathers. The Grey Woman smiled as she bent forward and ripped the clothes apart, exposing Gabriel's chest to the autumn chill.

Gabriel's lips moved, but no words came forth. Only gagging sounds as the Hunter wheezed for breath under the pressure of a dark tendril wrapped around his neck. Jesse cried out, trying to push his limbs to move, but finding an unnatural weight in his muscles. The Grey Woman hardly spared him a glance as she cackled, gleeful of the circumstances.

"Perhaps I shall include him too, if he proves himself worthy," The Grey Woman reassured.

Gabriel screamed though no sound came out. Jesse pulled himself closer, forcing his body to move by sheer force of will. The Grey Woman glanced at him and laughed, amused by Jesse’s pitiful attempts to stop her. His hand closed around Peacekeeper, but lifting the weapon presented itself as a Herculean task in his current state.

The Grey Woman turned back to Gabriel, unfazed by Jesse.

“I will unmake you,” The Grey Woman declared and stabbed a tapered claw into where Gabriel’s heart was. The Hunter bellowed voicelessly as blood seeped from the wound. He thrashed, trying to buck the monster’s hand from his chest, but it was a useless endeavor.

Jesse watched, horrified, fingers fumbling to move Peacekeeper. A gun that once felt so natural and weightless in his hand now sat like an anchor, unwilling to move.

“Your power is mine,” The Grey Woman murmured, pulling forth a soft white light from where Gabriel had been pierced. The glowing orb floated upwards until the woman sucked it in. She closed her eyes in contentment, visibly shuddering in delight as the light disappeared.

Jesse shrieked, watching as Gabriel’s thrashing body slowed until it rested lifelessly on the ground. The Grey Woman glanced at him, smiling. “I will remake him. Better. Stronger.”

As she spoke, black smoke began to spill out from where Gabriel had been stabbed. It was like a greedy void, seemingly consuming all bits of light in its presence and leaving nothing, but oppressive darkness. The black smoke, thick and opaque, soon covered what remained of Gabriel’s lifeless form, leaving nothing, but pure black. Jesse cried out, finding the strength to lurch forward and grab Gabriel’s hand.

He screamed, the black smoke burned where it touched his left hand. Jesse tried to pull, hoping foolishly to awaken Gabriel from this nightmare. Instead, the smoke scorched his skin, making his skin scream in agony as if he had dipped his hand into a burning fire. He tried to pull away, but found himself held in place.

Gabriel’s hand, now freed from his binds, covered his own. Jesse tried to pull back, wanting to break the hold and to retreat from the burning black smoke.

“Gabe!” Jesse yelled, locking eyes with his mentor.

Gabriel met his gaze though it was no longer the warm expression that Jesse was used to seeing. Eyes now black stared back at him, pinning him in place with his look alone. Black smoke continued to flow around them, wrapping Gabriel in such impenetrable darkness. Jesse tried to pull back, watching as the smoke began to travel up his arm.

“Gabe! Do you hear me? Gabe!” Jesse implored. His free hand found Peacekeeper and a waning amount of energy to fire a shot. The bullet missed, nowhere near close to where the Grey Women watched with amusement, but the loud bang seemed to have some effect.

Gabriel blinked, eyes momentarily returning to its deep brown. He pushed Jesse away, screaming as he did. “Run!”

The Grey Woman, entertained as she was, stepped in to interfere. She slipped a hand over Gabriel’s cheek and caressed the skin there until chocolate eyes reverted back to their depthless black.

She turned towards Jesse, intent on doing the same to him. But as the Grey Woman approached him, a bright blue light erupted from the center of Jesse’s chest. The monster shrunk back, blinded by the light.

When the light subsided, Jesse McCree was gone.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Art](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com/post/184077777486/hello-people-i-am-glad-to-finally-post-my-two) from [aerascreamer](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com) (+ [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aerascreamer/)).
> 
>  
> 
> [follow me on tumblr](egoblow.tumblr.com)


	4. Chapter 4

A cold fire burned up his arm. It was the first thing that greeted him as consciousness trickled in. Little details floated before him, begging to find a place in his mind. Smoke-- his hand had been burned. Black eyes-- A shining orb... He stitched together pieces as he slowly awakened until it all amounted to the smirk of a ghastly woman. 

“Gabriel!” Jesse jolted as he shouted out the name. But instead of rising upright, he found himself jerked backwards by a force tugging on his left hand. Jesse looked down at it and found himself to be chained to a modest bed. He panicked, pulling at the chains and testing the resistance. They were steadfast in their hold, tighter still on the binds that wrapped around his wrist.

Jesse turned, looking wildly around the room in an attempt to understand his current circumstances. He could remember Gabriel and the black smoke, and the Grey Woman who swallowed that little orb of light. It was a soft light, white in its glow, compared to the bright blue explosion that soon followed. 

He couldn’t remember anything after that and wondered if this room belonged to the Grey Woman. She had spoken of unmaking Gabriel, and wondered if she would stitch new pieces to his body as if she was mending torn clothes. He looked around and found nothing, but flowers and herbs being dried from the ceiling. The modest, homey nature of the room felt too comfortable and charming to suit the wickedness of the monster. A savior, perhaps? Though Jesse was wary of trusting anyone who would shackle him like this.

Jesse cried out as his left arm surged with pain. Had he hurt it when he woke? The Blackwatch Hunter looked down at it and flinched at the sight. Black curls of smoke rose from his skin that had turned pitch black from the tips of his fingers to his elbow. It reminded him of the charred bodies he had once seen when disease had run rampant in a village and there had been no choice, but to burn the sickened bodies. It reminded him of something else--

 _Gabe._ Gabe had been consumed by a similar dark smoke though it had spread faster than it did on Jesse's arm. 

“That curse will consume you soon.”

Jesse whipped his head around at the voice. It was so familiar with its deep tenor. It tugged at seemingly distant points of time when they would scream out the number of kills they had achieved that night, when they would tangle themselves in a bed until the innkeeper would bang on their door, when _they--_  His thoughts halted as he locked eyes with the owner of that voice. Blood-red eyes greeted him evenly.

“Hanzo,” Jesse breathed out slowly.

“Am I not Monster as you would call me?” The other man emerged from the doorway and entered the warm, soft light of the flame in the lamp. His appearance momentarily distracted Jesse who couldn’t help, but note the way the orange hues brought the appearance of life back into his skin. There had once been many nights that Jesse would perch himself on the bed and wait for the Shimada to greet him by candlelight like this. 

“Reckon you still are,” Jesse replied without thought, so used to fighting this monstrous clone in his dreams. “What am I doin’ here?”

“I might ask the same of you. A flash like lightning and you crashed into my bedroom,” Hanzo spoke, the hint of fangs peeking out every now and then. He stepped closer. The closing distance between them made Jesse tense on instinct. 

“Don’t remember much,” Jesse nodded to his arm. “Why am I tied up?”

Hanzo snorted, annoyed. “To prevent you from spreading the curse while you slept,” He gestured to the black unfurling around Jesse’s arm. “It will kill you as soon as it reaches your heart.”

In reaction to such a claim, Jesse could feel his heart stutter for a moment. The cold grip of fear squeezed around the vital organ and made him grimace at the tightness forming in his chest. He sucked in a slow, long breath in an effort to calm himself before continuing. "And how am I supposed to believe you?"

"You can't," Hanzo replied simply. "But I know that the symptoms resemble that which decimated the Fujioka clan-- Dorchadas, as it was called. Under my father's guidance, he and an alliance of five other clans had to exterminate all those touched by such a blight. Such darkness would consume them until their hearts stopped beating though their bodies kept moving as if driven by the need to spread something so terrible."

Hanzo tilted his head, regarding Jesse in the red glow of the firelight. Perhaps it was a trick of the lighting, but Jesse could have sworn he saw a flicker of familiar warmth in the vampire's gaze."Even with the strength of six clans, it took three weeks to extinguish all marked by the Dorchadas."

"Now just a moment--"

"My father killed his sister," Hanzo continued on as if Jesse had not started to speak. "My aunt. He burned her corpse because such a foul thing had consumed her to her heart," His lips quirked in a strained smile. "It turned her into a monster. She tried to eat anyone who came near her. So you see, Jesse, I know quite well what it is that ails you."

The weight of such words had silenced Jesse. He stared up at the Monster that wore Hanzo's likeness before turning to look at the creeping darkness spread up his arm. He flexed his hand and it responded as though nothing had afflicted it. Yet Jesse had seen too many horrors in all his years to trust such normalcy.

"So I'm a dead man, huh?" Jesse asked though he already knew the answer.

"You are," Hanzo met Jesse's gaze, refusing to look elsewhere during such sentiment. "It will be your choice, however, on how that will happen. I shall respect your wishes-- That is the way of the Hunter's Oath, isn't it?"

The vampire smiled at Jesse with the tiniest preview of a fang flashing through. He leaned forward, all hint of warmth now gone from his expression. "Something you failed to accomplish, isn't it Jesse?"

"Don't you _**dare**_ ," Jesse growled. He tried to sit up again, but the iron of the shackles resisted such a movement. It bit into bruised flesh, eliciting a sharp cry from the Hunter. "Fuck! Get these off!"

"And what? So then you can kill me?" Hanzo snorts. "You'd kill me then allow such a curse to consume you. No, Jesse McCree, you need me as I am. For when such an affliction takes you only **_I_ **will be able to give you the mercy you require. Is that not what you once promised me once upon a time?"

"Still got time on that," Jesse spat out, tugging once more on his binds. "Drive a stake right through your empty heart."

The vampire rolled his eyes as he stepped closer. His hands wrapped around both of Jesse's and squeezed, forcing the resistant movements to cease. "I may be different than who I was when mortal, but does that not happen to everyone when several years pass?"

Hanzo followed Jesse's gaze to where their hands touched and smirked at the shock unfurling on the Hunter's face. The black smoke furled upward, but remained as it was when Hanzo pulled his hand away. His right hand remained unblemished, not a trace of the curse having followed onto his flesh. "Except, perhaps, more resilient," He commented with a chuckle.

"You're-- safe," Jesse choked out, surprised.

"This curse only affects those that are still alive," Hanzo rubbed his right hand with the other, showing that there was no infection from the contact. "I suppose you would define myself as not living and thus, unaffected."

"A sick joke, if you asked me. Seein' you again with the circumstances that be," Jesse laughed though the sound was strained. "Y'know, watched old Gabe get murdered with this same affliction before I woke up here."

"Yes, you broke a chair with your body. A flash of blue light and you smashed right through it," Hanzo replied dryly. The tone sent a pang through Jesse's heart, remembering the way the Shimada's desert-dry wit would slice through conversations with only a slight quirk of the lips to remind Jesse it was all in jest. "A parting gift from your father."

"In what way?"

"Are you truly so dense?" The vampire sighed, lifting the thin cord of leather still hanging around his neck. The bit of leather that had once left a pristine, perfectly symmetrical crystal now only clung onto a few jagged shards. He pointed at the necklace around Jesse's neck where his crystal had similarly shattered. "Such magic was supposed to have been lost, but it seems that the Enchantress that your father procured these from still knew the ways."

"Two halves always findin' their way," The Hunter breathed out. He let it sink of a moment before barking with laughter. "God, Gabe really-- A bastard to the very end. Can't let me die in peace."

"On the contrary, I plan to give you exactly that."

Jesse jerked his head to one side as he felt fingers ghost through his hair. The touch was cold, a reminder of how the warm vibrance had long left the Hanzo he once knew. "It'd give me peace of mind if I could go out knowin' you were dead too. Not-- that. But truly dead dead."

"I almost forgot how insufferably stubborn you could be," Hanzo muttered half to himself. "Does it truly give you peace subjecting me to a naive wish?"

"Goddamn, you really know how to sound like him," Jesse responded just as quickly. "Monster."

"Because I am him, you dimwitted fool. Some things have changed, but only weaker men succumb to the baseless instincts of their innate being," Hanzo reached forward and pressed his finger to Jesse's neck. The sharp claw dug into the soft flesh and elicited a sharp suck of breath. Hanzo pressed until the pointed tip of the nail pricked blood.

The vampire held up the finger, looking more disgusted by the demonstration than anything else. He wiped his finger on Jesse's shirt then pulled back. A heavy droplet slid down the side of Jesse's neck until he could feel it sinking into his mess of hair. The muscles throughout his body tightened with tension, the words of every Hunter before him telling him that the mere scent of blood was enough to drive a vampire into a blind frenzy. Like hounds to their hunts, the smell of blood unleashed pure mindlessness for their cravings. 

Yet the vampire remained as he was, staring back at Jesse's with an impatient scowl that felt all too familiar.

"Hunters underestimated vampires, Jesse. Or they chose to weave such stories. My mind is of the latter, but I offer you both options knowing how much of a loyal dog you were to them," Hanzo's voice dripped with bitterness.

"I ain't a dog to nobody," Jesse snarled much to Hanzo's amusement.

"And yet you turned your back on me when I begged you for your help. When I needed you the most," Hanzo replied, his voice steady and cool. "Control is a learnable trait, Jesse, but not when a fledgling has just been turned. Not when there is no one to teach them."

"You were attackin' the villagers!" The shackles clanged together as Jesse surged forward, trying to defend his own actions. He thrashed in frustration until Hanzo placed a hand upon the center of his chest and pushed him down.

"She was the one. My sire. The one who took me. The one who I needed your help to kill," The previous steadiness was lost as Hanzo spat out the words. "She controlled me until I found a way to claw myself out of her grasp. I tore her head off myself. Alone. Without your help. Without what should have saved me from her torture. Don't you see? We could have returned to each other so much sooner. **_We_** could have ended it."

Jesse stilled as though the words had petrified his body. The tension left his body all at once until he was sinking bonelessly back onto the bed. He let the words burn in like acid, tearing their way into his memory for him. Perhaps this guilt would be the last thing he would remember this world by. He could replay the memory when he first shot Hanzo over and over until until the black smoke ate through his body and soul.

Silence, except for the measured breaths of the Hunter, hung in the air. Eventually, Jesse had to turn away from Hanzo's leveled gaze. His eyes fell on the black smoke that was climbing further up his arm. There was no doubt it would reach his heart soon and then-- It would take him. It would make him into what he could not bear to be. A monster.

He would become a monster. One who would go on to hurt and to  _take_ , to leave only tragedies behind in its midst.

A cruel twist in fate. Jesse almost laughed at the thought of it. He would go down as the very thing he had hated, the very thing that he had tried to kill before ending up in such a predicament.

And then there was Gabe.

It would be a tragedy. The famed Blackwatch leader and his protege both fated to become what they hunted. Their hard-fought legacy would forever be tarnished by the way their stories had ended, not in glory, but in disgraceful disappointment.

Jesse could accept such an ending for himself, but his pride suffered for Gabriel. It wasn't a conclusion fit for his mentor, for a man who had given everything to Hunting with very little returned. The mortals that they Hunted for should be singing of his glory, but it seemed all too likely that their legends would only be spoken of with pity.  _The poor Reyes of Blackwatch._ Or perhaps they would scorn him for horrors that he never asked to make. The fate of Hunters were often miserable than not, Jesse knew that. But of all the Hunters to carry the duty, it was Gabe who deserved even a modicum of a happy ending.

"Will you make sure he's dead? Truly dead?" Jesse asked finally, spurred by the thought of the man who given him everything.

"Reyes?" Hanzo sighed and offered only a shrug. "I will see to it if our paths cross, but I am sure your clan will take care of it."

"That ain't good enough, Hanz'," Jesse jerked again, reinvigorated by the lackluster reply. "I want you to promise. I ain't dyin' without knowin' that he has peace."

"You're dying regardless of what you want, Jesse. Whether by this curse or by my hand, you will be dead by sunrise," The vampire replied calmly as if giving a harmless diagnosis. "You have no say in the matter."

"Hanzo!" The Hunter thrashed, angry to have his desires slighted so easily. "I ain't dyin' without knowin'. Please!"

"Remarkable how selfish you continue to be. You have never known me to be one who makes promises that they cannot keep, Jesse," Hanzo stood, straightening up to leave. He retreated to a corner of his room where a desk was pressed up to the wall. The vampire returned with a knife in hand.

Jesse glanced to his arm and though he could not see it clearly, wisps of black smoke lingered out of the corner of his eye by his shoulder. It was moving faster than he had hoped, and he briefly wondered whether time would shrink that much quicker if it were to seep into his brain.

"I'll make this swift for you. End your suffering before you need to witness your own undoing," Hanzo murmured as he knelt by the side of the bed. The knife that he held in his hand was Jesse's own, a heavy piece with an edge so sharp that it could slice through flesh like butter.

The Hunter panicked, feeling as though every possible road in life that once existed in the thousands before him had narrowed to one. To die now by Hanzo's hand with the knife taken from his very belt.

If he died now… then the monster who took Gabe would still live. The monster who stole his mentor and cursed him to an unfair death would keep on living. The Blackwatch Clan was feared by mortals and monsters alike for their undeniable strength and prowess, but with their leader and his protege gone… Who would be left to avenge them?

"Hanzo, please," Jesse begged, unable to help himself though he knew this was right, that this was the only way. If the Dorchadas took him, he would only cause more harm than good. There was no other option when it was matter of dying now or dying later as a monster.

His mind was set.

"Quiet. Do not make it harder than it already is," Hanzo hissed, as he knelt down by Jesse's side. "You may think me a monster, but there is nothing more that pains me."

"Hanzo-- No!" Jesse begged though he already he knew his fate.

Hanzo's face contorted with pain as he looked down at Jesse. 

All thoughts halted. Jesse's eyes followed the way the sharpened metal of his knife caught the warm glow of the fireplace. It would soon dig into his heart, sparing him a monster's death.

"I’m sorry," Hanzo murmured as he raised the knife. His brows had furrowed as stress deepened the lines of his frown. Muscles flexed as the knife made its descent towards its intended target - the heart of Jesse McCree.

 

It buried itself in the heart of the Blackwatch Hunter, who screamed with his final breath, "Let me live!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Art](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com/post/184077777486/hello-people-i-am-glad-to-finally-post-my-two) from [aerascreamer](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com) (+ [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aerascreamer/)).
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	5. Chapter 5

_ Please, Jesse, please... _

The words echoed, distorted and soft as if spoken from a faraway point. 

He drifted, loose and unencumbered, as he listened to the words repeated in the distance. He tried to open his eyes to find the source of the voice, but there was only darkness. An endless void with no light, no color, just the echoes of a voice.

_ Jesse... please... _

The voice grew quieter. Distantly, he thought he might miss the voice, but could not figure out why. 

_ Jesse! _

The voice pleaded once more. He opened his mouth to respond in kind, but was met by something wet pressing against his lips. His tongue swiped against the liquid once before repeating the movement again, and again. There was an addictive quality to the motion and, lost in this void, the movement became a focal point to ground himself on. 

A soft array of colors exploded with each lap of his tongue. The darkness began to peel away, layer by layer, as colors grew in intensity. They were loose, shapeless colors floating before him. 

He leaned closer to the source of the liquid as genuine curiosity at the sudden introduction of colors warped into greed. He pressed his lips against the source and sucked. With each swallow, the colors grew brighter and more intense. Reds, yellows, blues, he remembered each of those quite well. They melted together and revealed a wider spectrum of shades.

More colors gave way to shapes. The world before him began to shift into focus, growing both brighter and sharper all at once. It was almost too much all at once, but he kept sucking in more of the liquid. There was something wildly euphoric about it as it opened up the world that had been so dim. As the world began to stitch itself back together, his attention shifted to the taste of the liquid. 

Metallic and tangy-- Like blood. 

" _Jesse_ ," The name came out in a hiss. "Enough."

Jesse registered the words as sounds, but nothing else. If anything, it only stoked the fire of his greed. He pushed closer to the source of such blood and sucked harder still, trying to draw in as much of the liquid that brought such color to his world. 

All the vague shapes and colors began to come together into something cohesive. He blinked, unseeing for a moment as his brain attempted to catch up so that it could process what laid before him. 

_ Hanzo. _

Dark hair spilling over his shoulder and his brows knit together in concern. It was a sight Jesse had known well back when they were partners. He always found a way to fuck things up, and for Hanzo to save his ass. 

His thoughts drifted at the memory. The bitter liquid had him floating, feeling euphoric and powerful, as if all his troubles had been washed away with each swallow. He felt unstoppable, as though no beast, no monster,  _no man_ could stop him now.

"Enough!" Hanzo snapped as he pushed him away. It was then that Jesse realized that his lips were latched tightly around Hanzo's wrist, which could only mean one thing.

He was drinking Hanzo's blood.

A vampire's blood. 

A taste of a vampire's blood was said to send a mortal into a frenzied mess, addicted to the rush and vitality it gave them. More than a taste, however, was said to have an entirely different outcome. Too much and it would turn the mortal, transforming them into a monster that preyed on the blood of humans.

So... 

It had happened. 

Jesse remembered the glint of light that the knife had picked up before it had been swung down into his chest. The flash of pain followed by the shock came back to him in that instant then-- Nothing. The memory cut off abruptly with no hint of what came next. Had that been when he had died? 

He had died. The thought sank in like an anchor.

He had died, but his dying wish had been granted.

"Jesse," Fingers slipped into his hair and pulled, forcing Jesse back. 

Jesse felt it before he knew what he was doing-- a low growl that vibrated in his throat. His eyes snapped up to meet Hanzo's gaze as he buried his teeth deeper into the flesh. The Hunter resisted the hand in his hair, unwilling to let go.

"Jesse!" Hanzo shouted before pulling harder. 

Jesse let go, but only to surge forward with a feral snarl. He drove his teeth into the well-muscled forearm of the other man. Distantly, he could hear Hanzo snarl in response, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Instinct kept him latched onto the arm, knowing that he would have truly been dead without instinct to guide his survival.

"Enough!" The word was all the warning that Jesse had before he was slammed away. Without thought Jesse lunged again, but fell short at a sharp yank on his left arm. The bind chaining him to the bed kept him just short of reaching Hanzo. 

Hanzo rose from where he had fallen. Blood dripped down his arm. The sight (or the scent of it, Jesse couldn't tell) made him whine with want. He licked his lips wanting more and tried lunging once again. The metal bind rattled in protest and reminded him of the forced distance between them.

The vampire slowly collected himself. He wiped away the blood with his shirt, revealing unblemished skin though Jesse had mauled it just moments before. Hanzo held it out towards the candlelight for a moment, as if show Jesse.

"That will be the first and last time I allow you to bite me like that," Hanzo warned.

"I--" Jesse began, and seemingly startled himself at the sound of his own voice. 

"You're alive, for starters, or as close to it as need be," Hanzo grabbed a chair and sat down, just out of reach from where Jesse was. He made a point to lock eyes with Jesse before he stated firmly. "I'm sorry."

Jesse stared at him as the high from the blood began to fade. That pleasant, euphoric feeling of floating began to grow heavy until he could feel himself plummet back into the reality of the situation. He looked down at himself where the front of his clothes were now soaked in red. He stopped as he focused on the spot by his heart where his shirt had been torn. Fingers ghosted over the frayed threads and pressed deeper to find the wound.

There was none.

Hanzo sighed from where he sat. "I truly meant to kill you. There was no other option with the way that curse was advancing."

"But I'm alive," Jesse choked out as he touched smooth skin where he knew he had been stabbed.

Hanzo frowned. "Do you remember what you said before I stabbed you?"

It was hard to think straight with the metallic scent of blood still hanging in the air. He closed his eyes, thinking back to that moment before the knife swung down. It had happened so quickly that it was hard to parse through. His mind felt clouded and his thoughts jumbled. All he knew was that there was a thrumming column now erected at the back of his mind, one that had not existed before. When he listened to it closely, it screamed for a way of life that Jesse could not fathom.

"You asked me to let you live," Hanzo started. It was a welcomed interruption to Jesse's thoughts, who couldn't trust where they might lead if he listened any longer to that new presence in his mind. There was a pause as Hanzo considered his next words. He spoke them slowly, as if unsure of how they would be received.  "Or-- I am sure you did."

The vampire looked to the side. His brows were knit together while his hands gripped his knees tightly. Tension kept Hanzo's posture rigid and tight, as if relaxing might break something in the relative quiet of the room.

"Well, no problem stabbin' me again if you're wrong," Jesse joked though his tone failed to capture the humor.

The humor seemed lost on Hanzo as well as he shot back with a quiet, "It was not as easy as you would think."

Not easy to drive a knife into his chest? He grimaced at the thought. The knife had moved easily, quickly, in a steady hand that knew the motion well. It had seemed effortless from how he remembered it though such a recollection was colored by pain and terror. The flash of every nerve lighting up in his body before his wounded heart sputtered out. 

He remembered screaming upon the impact. He chose to ignore this path of thought for now as he delved elsewhere. Deeper digging landed him on the memory of the Grey Woman and the promise in her eyes for something much worse. 

_Run!_

Gabe's terrified face came back to him, coupled with a streak of blue light. 

The memory began to stitch itself together. Gabe. He had resolved himself because of Gabe. The man gave him everything and it burned a fierce spot in his chest when he thought about his mentor dying without vengeance. The Grey Woman, who had cursed him and killed his mentor, had to be stopped no matter what. Thinking of her brought another vicious growl vibrating low in his throat. He gripped the bed to ground himself, shuddering as his body jerked with the need to tear something apart. 

Not something.  _Her._

"It is not easy," Hanzo repeated, his low voice cutting through the surge of restless energy bubbling through Jesse's body. 

Jesse jerked to the side, too caught up in his thoughts to give much of a damn about Hanzo. He wanted to sink his teeth into flesh and tear it asunder. He wanted to rip off the head of the Grey Woman and feast on her blood-- Only then, only then would that new voice screaming at the back of his mind feel satisfied. 

He had to find her. Jesse decided with sudden resolve, teeth itching to latch onto flesh. He had to hunt her down, he had to-- He had to leave. _Get out._ It would be the only way he could offer Gabe a semblance of vengeance. He had to do it himself. 

The hunter tugged on the chain restraining him, body thrumming with sudden energy. "Unlock it, Hanz, unlock it." Desperation laced his voice, escalating with each sharp tug at the chain as his frustration grew. 

"No," Hanzo replied simply, still observing him from where he remained seated. "Sit down. You need to rest."

"No!" Jesse snarled and lunged for Hanzo with another feral growl.

 

This time, the wall shuddered from the sudden force. Hanzo eyed the wall where the iron anchor of the chain had begun to twist and bend the hardwood of the wall. Jesse followed his gaze and jerked his arm with one last tug. 

Wood snapped, little bits flying from where it gave way. The chain sang as it sailed through the air from the sudden force. The Blackwatch hunter surged into movement. He barreled out of the room on the sheer momentum of being free though his clothes were still soaked in blood and his feet bare. 

The metal hinges on the door snapped as he burst outside, guided by a rush of adrenaline. The bind had been broken which meant that he could go after the Grey Woman, which meant he had to move. _Move now._ His mind focused into a narrowed tunnel where all that mattered was the Grey Woman. Hanzo, the blood, the nudging jabs of elongated teeth resting inside his mouth... all that faded away when he thought of the Grey Woman. 

The way she had stood over Gabe and laughed at his distress-- The unbridled fear in his mentor's eyes, which Jesse had never seen before in his life despite all the terrors they faced together. Jesse had been powerless then, but now-- He felt the new vitality coursing through his body. He could kill her. Yes, he could kill her. Drive his teeth-- fangs into her neck. He'd let her bleed out so he could see the same fear mimicked in her expression. Then he would feast on her blood--

Blood surged into his mouth and he cried in happiness. He ripped flesh apart, wanting more. 

"Jesse!" The chain still hanging off his wrist snapped back with enough force to break the bones of a mortal.

The Blackwatch Hunter launched back, following the momentum of the pull, and tackled the source. He snarled, furious at whoever would dare stop him from killing the Grey Woman. Jesse clamped down around hard flesh, satisfying some animal instinct within him. The satisfaction was only temporary as he was shoved away and onto his back. Weight smothered over him, holding down his hands. Thick thighs pressed down on his lower body like boulders and prevented him from bucking free.

"Jesse! Get a hold of yourself!" The Grey Woman was shouting at him. Jesse thrashed under the Gray Woman's weight, teeth sinking in harder into the flesh it had clamped down on. 

"Jesse! I command you to stop!" The words came out with such tremendous force that everything stilled.

The world froze. Every muscle ceased in their movements as if suddenly petrified into stone. He couldn't move, which meant he couldn't fight the Grey Woman. Panic rushed through him. He could only stare up to lock eyes with--

_ Hanzo. _

Jesse's world snapped back into place. He blinked up at his ex-partner, reeling as clarity returned. It was not the Grey Woman holding him down, but Hanzo. But that could only mean that the arm he was biting into was Hanzo's as well. The realization made his whole body freeze with horror and he wished he could will himself to run away. 

Hanzo sighed with the weight of such exhaustion that it surely could have crushed him. He gently pried Jesse's teeth out from his arm and slowly got off the other man. Blood dripped down his forearm, but it did not take long before the wounds began to smooth out into unmarked skin. Still-- Jesse had caught the brutal look of the injuries before they had started to heal. The sight felt like a punch to his gut.

"This is my fault," Hanzo began. He wiped his arm on his shirt before continuing. "I never should have done this to you. Look at what you've become."

Jesse willed his lips to move, to form the sounds he wanted to make, but his body was still paralyzed by Hanzo's words. He was a helpless listener.

"I should put you out of your misery like I should have done before," Hanzo knelt down by Jesse's side and pushed the messy bangs from Jesse's eyes. "Forgive me for allowing you to suffer like this."

Jesse struggled against his limbs' own immobility. Dread seized him at the ominous tone of Hanzo's words. He couldn't die, not now. Not while the Grey Woman still roamed. Not when he felt so powerful that he knew it would be feasible.

"I was selfish," Hanzo's hand that brushed away the hair moved lower until one of his nails poked at the spot where a knife had been not too long ago. He let his hand rest there for a moment before pulling back. "As you were."

Motion jerked back through his body like a wave. It took him a moment as he clenched and unclenched his hands before he could rise. His temper flared now that he was no longer left voiceless and immobile. He grabbed the front of Hanzo's shirt to hold him there. "What was that?"

"A sire's will," Hanzo answered. He remained still, not resisting the hold Jesse had on his shirt. "Do you get it now, Jesse? I doubt you would, but that was a mere taste of what this life brings."

Guilt coiled in his gut, but he pressed it down for now. His emotions felt too unhinged to deal with that now. Jesse pushed back that by declaring, "I need to kill the one who killed Gabe. Can't be dyin' before then."

Hanzo held his gaze. Jesse, unwilling to back down, peered into the bright red color and realized far too soon how little had changed. Though they were no longer the warm chocolate color that Jesse had known, he could not deny that this was one of those icy Shimada stares that had always made people uncomfortable. The first year of their acquaintance had been marked by enduring it until his charm had worn down Hanzo’s edges. 

"If it had been daylight when you ran out of my house, destroying my door, you would have killed yourself. Perhaps myself as well. Do you realize that?" The question made Jesse flinch. 

Come to think of it, he could not recall how he had gotten here. There were vague memories of smashing through a door and running, but Jesse could not find the logic that had propelled such actions. There was only the image of the Grey Woman and the desire to hurt. 

He swallowed thickly, still tasting the metallic tang that coated his mouth. Jesse looked down at the stained clothes he wore and had to wonder how awful he appeared. Self-consciously, the Hunter wiped at his mouth and tried to sweep back his hair. He dreaded what a mirror might reveal about himself now. The prickling press of fangs could not be ignored, not after he had used it so readily to tear into Hanzo's arm.

"Can't say I got an excuse," Jesse mumbled out, reluctant to stew in his own mistakes. 

Hanzo huffed as he gestured vaguely to a spot behind him. Jesse turned to look, freezing as he saw the ruined pile of a freshly killed deer. "You were tearing that deer apart when I found you. How could you possibly go hunting anything when you ravage whatever you see?” Hanzo huffed, frustrated. “Jesse, you need control before you can go after what took Gabriel."

"Don't got time for that! Ain’t nobody around ‘cept me! She’ll spread that fuckin’ curse and keep on killin’." Jesse snapped, feeling a flare of that unbridled emotion rise up again. "I ain’t gonna rest easy knowin’ she’s still out there!"

He inwardly panicked as he felt charged emotions start to teeter over the edgeand tried to stamp it down before he let loose again. A hand wrapped around Jesse's wrist, startling him with the gentleness of the touch. Hanzo hushed him with the hold.

"Then I will make a promise for you, Jesse McCree,” The words were soft, reminding Jesse of the quiet moments when they would collapse into bed while on the brink of exhaustion. 

“I will come with you to hunt this monster down," A short pause allowed the words to sink in and for Hanzo to gather his own resolve. His gaze hardened.  "We will kill it."

The Shimada pressed a kiss to his knuckles. Hanzo's voice grew soft until Jesse had to lean in to hear the rest. 

"When the monster is dead and Reyes avenged--when all of that which troubles you is over, I will kill you and lay you to your final rest."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Art](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com/post/184077777486/hello-people-i-am-glad-to-finally-post-my-two) from [aerascreamer](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com) (+ [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aerascreamer/)).
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> [follow me on tumblr](egoblow.tumblr.com)


	6. Chapter 6

_He’ll kill the Gray Woman. Then..._

_Me._

Jesse mulled over the thought as Hanzo led him away with a firm grip on his hand. The desire to act on his impulses had died away with the hold. Hanzo's hand acted like a grounding force. It tethered him to the rationale that had suddenly died away with his mortality, to the control that Jesse always believed to separate himself from the beasts that he hunted.

The thought settled over him uncomfortably. Even he, with all of his best, noble intentions, had mindlessly slaughtered an animal. There was no thought behind it beyond needing to hurt the Grey Woman who haunted his thoughts. Glancing down at his blood-soaked clothes was a reminder of that and it stuck on Jesse like a tick.

"You're lucky that we have two hours before the sun rises," Hanzo commented as he guided them through a particularly thick part of the forest. A few of the surrounding branches had been torn down by sheer force.

"I'm a liability, huh?" Jesse huffed, forced to stare at the back of Hanzo's head with the way they had to squeeze through the overgrown path.

"You are, yes," Hanzo squeezed his hand for the briefest of moments. "Truthfully, it would be easier to kill you now and to take care of this monster alone, but I doubt you would be happy with that."

_You wouldn't trust me, would you?_

The implication hung in the air between them, or it felt like it to Jesse. Though there were many things that felt familiar to Jesse about the man before him, he could not forget the disastrous way their previous encounter had gone. Back then-- Back then he had felt a singular urge to uphold the Hunter's Oath for Hanzo that reminded him all too strongly of tonight's burning desire to hunt the Grey Woman.

"You're right. Won't feel a lick of peace unless I see that monster go down with my own eyes," Jesse tried justifying it to himself. Even before their current circumstances, when they both had still be mortal, the weight of such a burden would have been too much to leave to Hanzo alone. His relationship with Gabriel was a sacred thing, forged and hardened by hardship. Even in their old circumstances back then, Jesse would never have allowed Hanzo to carry this burden of laying his mentor to rest. 

Jesse's life had always been stained by tragedy. His father's body had been found by the pub, throat torn open and blood drained. He and his mother had continued on for a few more years together until the night had whispered his mother away. She had left him as she always did when the sun went down, off to earn the coins to keep his belly full and his bed warm.

But she never returned. Not when the sun rose, as she was supposed, and not when the next day's sun rose. Or any of the ones that followed.

Only twelve at the time, Jesse had resorted to his sweet face and quick fingers to survive. By fourteen, Jesse was running with a local band of thieves who proudly called themselves Deadlock. And by sixteen?

Sixteen was when Jesse had tried his hand at dipping fingers into the pockets of Gabriel Reyes, leader of the Blackwatch Hunters' Clan. Sixteen was when Jesse had first learned what it felt like for the bones in his hand to snap, and what it felt like for magic to set them back into place. It was the age when he re-discovered the feeling of warm and safe. When he realized what the night had stolen from him, and what he would re-take, piece by piece, with each shot of his Peacekeeper and stake through the heart.

Jesse felt a tightening in his chest as he though about Gabriel. The man had taught him everything from finding his way by the stars to shooting a bullet clean through a werewolf's skull. Jesse McCree owed him his life, owed him the world.

"I'll do whatever it takes, Hanzo. You know that, don't you?" Jesse regretted the words almost as soon as he spoke them. Hanzo's lips tightened into a strict line.

"Do I?" Hanzo snorted. "I suppose I do. I'm sure it would have given you some pleasure if you had managed to stake me back then."

"I--"

"Admit it. You would have relished it," Hanzo squeezed Jesse's hand in warning.

Jesse gave pause before he nodded. "Yeah, I would have. Didn't see you as Hanzo. You were anything, but him."

Hanzo stopped abruptly to hold his gaze. Jesse wanted to look away, but the strength of the look was too much. "But am I your Hanzo now?"

Jesse sighed, aggravated. "I don't know." A pause as he tore his gaze away. "I don't know anything anymore."

"I am not." Hanzo turned back, continuing on and dragging Jesse along with him. "I would like to make that clear, Jesse. I am similar to the Hanzo who you remember, but I cannot be that naive fool for you anymore."

"You were never much of a fool, Hanzo."

"I was. You were too," Hanzo refused to look back at him as he continued. "Death has stripped me of that."

"Look, Hanzo, I did everythin' I knew to try and--" Jesse started, hackles rising.

"I know, Jesse. But you-- You must understand what it means to die. I cannot help you if you do not understand all that you have lost tonight," Hanzo sounded exhausted in that moment, and perhaps a little confused as well. "You will always battle that hunger."

Jesse looked down at himself where his clothes had been irreparably stained. The deer's blood must have eased a part of that thirst. Thinking about it, however, must have awakened some part of that feral instinct because he suddenly felt a restlessness under his skin. An itch that he couldn't scratch that made his muscles twitch. He bit down on his lower lip gently to hold himself together.

"Self-control can be learned, Jesse," The words were soft as if Hanzo could sense how precariously Jesse teetered on edge. "It will take time though. And the willingness to practice."

"Yeah, and teachin' me will be one hell of a distraction from what I need you to be doin'," Jesse huffed. Practice meant time and time wasn't what Jesse had. Besides, there wouldn't be the need. He had no desire to live beyond the Grey Woman's demise. He would ensure that Hanzo took care of that monster and he would allow himself to be put to peace. There was comfort in that thought, in knowing that he wouldn't have to worry about falling apart and shredding apart some human for that much longer. Frankly, a vampire's boundless potential for living frightened him so it was some reassurance to have an end point. There was a goal he could work towards and an ending that would soothe his concerns.

The only problem was that finding such resolution rested firmly with Hanzo.

"I understand," Some of the softness to Hanzo's voice had faded away. The vampire before him was enough of his Hanzo for Jesse to know that he was withdrawing. That he was building up the tiny walls that kept his heart safe and his demeanor cold.

"I know it ain't easy," Jesse started, feeling obligated to return some of the comforting. "Hell, killin' me once is bad enough. I ain't happy about forcin' you to do it twice, but there ain't any other way."

"You should keep your concerns focused on yourself. I will be fine," Jesse's words did little to thaw the sudden iciness to Hanzo's demeanor.

Their arrival back at Hanzo's cabin halted the conversation. Hanzo ushered him inside where he led Jesse to a small bath with a clean set of clothes. The Shimada slipped away quickly, claiming that he needed to deal with the door. Jesse was no fool though, and could tell that the vampire was finding a convenient reason to avoid continuing the conversation for longer.

Jesse let it slip by. The call of the bath and fresh clothes was too strong for him to resist. There was an underlying discomfort that persisted deep in his flesh. It reminded him of when he hit his first growth spurt and the way his body had persistently ached, begged to be stretched to accommodate the sudden changes.

He took care of himself and gradually lost himself to the meditative qualities of bathing himself. Each swipe of the washcloth seemed to ease the discomfort that he felt to his very bones. This was his body, and he knew that, but it almost felt like he didn't belong-- almost like slipping into the wrong pair of shoes. The closest way he could describe it was when he hit his first growth spurt, and had to re-learn how to navigate his body in the spaces that he occupied. Moving was both familiar and alien, leaving Jesse generally on edge.

"The Sun will rise soon," Hanzo interrupted from the other side of the door, voice muffled.

"Got it," Jesse splashed his face with water one last time before he got up. He dried and dressed with the clothes laid out for him.

His heart clenched at the way the fabric hung over his body. Loose around the arms where he could never match the bulk of muscles, but the hem of his pants stopping just above his ankles. The way that the clothes draped and clung to his body felt too familiar. It reminded him of the quieter days that they once had. Days when the bounty of a hunt was enough to give them a week's rest without worry. When they could lounge at their inn and feel the same sort of peace they fought so hard to gift to the mortals that they protected.

"Take the bed," Hanzo instructed as soon as Jesse entered the room.

Jesse's gaze drifted to the hastily repaired section of the wall where Jesse had ripped out the chain holding him back. He couldn't remember doing so, but there were a lot of things that he couldn't quite grasp when he thought back on it. As soon as the notion of killing the Grey Woman had crept into his mind, it was as if everything else had ceased to exist.

Jesse shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts. It was dangerous to think about the Grey Woman if tonight was any indication. He couldn't trust himself not to bolt off again. Not with the Sun threatening to pierce the horizon.

"You will not wake until the Sun sets. I will be here for you when you do," Hanzo promised from the doorway.

"Where you goin'?" Jesse sat down on the edge of the bed. It was small and meant only for one.

"Where there is space. Do not concern yourself when you have more serious things to think about," Hanzo took a few steps forward to push Jesse down. "Like the Sun. It is your enemy now."

Jesse supposed that it was rising now if the forming heaviness of his limbs meant anything. He wanted to protest the sudden drowsiness, but felt like a rock sinking in the sea. His eyes drooped closer, and the last thing he felt before the darkness consumed him was the brush of fingers tucking hair behind his ear.

 

* * *

 

 

It was the hunger that woke him. Pain curling from his gut gripped him with such viciousness that he could only scream. He rose, shooting out of bed with little thought except to find a way to ease an ache worse than anything he had ever known in his mortal life.

A solid weight met him by the door, colliding with him and sending him falling backwards. Jesse growled at the treatment, clawed hands lashing out to throw off whatever offending obstacle had gotten into his way. The sharpened nails dug into flesh, leaving behind a trail of matching scarlet lines against flesh.

Hanzo's appearance by the doorway was the last thing Jesse recalled before the tangy, metallic scent of blood made everything go dark. He lost himself to that scent as it promised to ease some of that hunger that gripped his senses. Driven entirely by instinct, Jesse opened his mouth and drove sharp, white fangs deep into the juncture of the body's head and shoulder.

Euphoria fell over him like a gentle salve. Jesse's muscles slowly eased until he was leaning heavily onto the body for support. He drank just as greedily as he did the night before, seemingly insatiable for whatever cures could calm the new frenzied part of his mind.

Still-- this was nothing like drinking from Hanzo. The incredible rush of power that had swept through him the night before was only quietly mimicked here, like wine that had been watered down to a murky imitation.

And with that murky imitation came the ability to pull away when the ache started to fade. Jesse took one last draw before shoving the body away. He wiped at his face, horrified to find that he had ruined the clothes that Hanzo had lent him. Like before, blood had dripped down his chin and neck until the front of his shirt and pants had been soaked through with the evidence of his hunger.

"You'll learn," Hanzo offered the small bit of comfort as he stepped into the room. He looked down at the mess where violent mauling had reckoned heavy bleeding and frowned. "We can't have you making a mess each time."

Jesse licked at his lips before using the edge of the shirt to clean up his face. He stared down at the blood's source, noting it to be a man perhaps ten years his senior. The man's eyes remained open, staring ruthlessly back at Jesse. Though lifeless, the unseeing gaze made Jesse flinch with self-inflicted thoughts of betraying the Hunter's Code.

_Hurt no mortal._

"Who was he?" Jesse asked, the taste of the dead man's blood still lingering on his lips. He scrubbed harder with the edge of the shirt to clean himself of it.

"A monster," Hanzo replied simply. He grabbed Jesse by the arm and pulled him up. There was a clinical quality to the way Hanzo pulled Jesse's shirt off before pushing him back down onto the bed. He balled up the shirt before dropping it on the forming puddle of blood.

"Tasted pretty human to me," Jesse muttered. He stared back at the corpse as unease coiled his muscles. "...Werewolf?"

"No, a human. Mortal," Hanzo clarified as he lifted the body. He held the corpse up in a bridal carry as if the muscled man was some insignificant size. "But humans can be monsters too. You of all people should know that."

The comment felt like a stake to the heart. Jesse froze, at a loss for how to respond to that. Hanzo offered him the slightest bit of reprieve by hauling the corpse out of the room without giving much chance for Jesse to say anything.

It was true, to be fair. With the circumstances that often called for Hunters, Jesse had been exposed to the cruel depravity mortals would resort to when their safety was threatened. One village he encountered had regularly sacrificed their orphans to their neighboring ghoul. Others masked their own cruelty under the guise of nocturnal beings.

Yet, Jesse had to wonder if Hanzo meant something else entirely when he spoke such words. Was that how Hanzo viewed him now? A monster who had shunned him and now dripped red all over the floor? A monster who had not cared about the man's crimes before ripping his throat open?

It was no wonder why the Hunter's Oath existed. It was beyond cruel to submit a mortal man to such carnal impulses. Even crueler to do it to a Hunter.

"Come," The soft order interrupted Jesse's thoughts. He looked up, surprised that Hanzo was already back in the room with him. Jesse rose and followed after Hanzo, unable to think of a reason not to.

"The messiness goes away once you get used to it. It is something that cannot be helped otherwise," Hanzo pushed him to the bath. "You will learn."

"Learn what? Bein' clean about rippin' a man's throat out?" Jesse snarled with his voice thick with disgust. He clenched his hands, feeling overwhelmed and upset. "Knowin' he was this or that doesn't help-- Not when I dug in without even a care."

"Which is why I will do this for you," Hanzo growled as he dipped a rag into cold water and threw it at Jesse to use. "This is why I will find the truly despicable and hand them to you. So your conscience can remain clean. So you will not need to worry about the guilt of who and how you killed them.” The other man stalked forward with each word, earnest and pleading all at once.

His voice suddenly lost all intensity. “I will do this for you, Jesse."

"For what? I'm just gonna die anyway," Jesse barked back with a cruel laugh. Perhaps he meant to hurt Hanzo with his words, wanted to lash out at the rise of confusion bubbling up his consciousness. "The Hunter's Oath, Hanzo, our oath. I'm out once that Grey Woman's done. I ain't learnin' any of your tricks."

Hanzo leveled a hard glare at Jesse before moving for the door. "Then clean up and get ready. We should leave tonight."

The vampire closed the bathroom door none too gently. As silence cooled off his emotions, Jesse felt the undeniable clutches of guilt seize his heart. He wiped away the drying blood and had to wonder if he had always been such a cruel beast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Art](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com/post/184077777486/hello-people-i-am-glad-to-finally-post-my-two) from [aerascreamer](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com) (+ [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aerascreamer/)).
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> [follow me on tumblr](egoblow.tumblr.com)


	7. Chapter 7

The effects of their earlier exchange had carried over to the start of their journey. Under a cloudy night, Hanzo guided them away from his secluded cabin towards the main roads that would lead them to Adlersbrunn and the Black Forest. It was where Jesse had witnessed the Grey Woman kill his mentor before the blue crystal had transported him to Hanzo's home. Jesse couldn't say for sure that he would find the Grey Woman there, but it was the only lead he had to work off of. 

Restless, he raised a hand to thumb at the necklace still hanging around his neck. The crystal had shattered after whisking him away, but it occasionally pulsed with blue light. Hanzo's had similarly been broken after Jesse's arrival though he could still see the thin matching strip of leather just beneath the collar of his shirt. It had to make him wonder why Hanzo had kept it after all of these years, after Jesse had been so needlessly cruel during their first encounter. Then his thoughts turned towards himself as he wondered why he had insisted on wearing the reminder of his lost love.

A gift from Gabe, he reasoned. He snorted to himself, wishing he could see how Gabe would have reacted if he knew what the present had done. Wished he could see the smug look in Gabe's eyes as he forced Jack to confront the value in the sentimental jewelry that Jack had often crowed about as wasteful. 

The moment would never happen now, and though he wanted to mull over all that he had lost, Jesse could not afford to get distracted by his own tragedies.

"It's a long way away," Jesse sped up his pace to match Hanzo's. "The sun will come up."

"I am aware," Hanzo glanced at him before turning his gaze back onto the path ahead. Disuse and time had surrendered it back to the forest, but there was still a sliver of trodden ground to follow. 

"What are we gonna do?" While he tried to keep an eye on Hanzo, the overgrown path lent itself as an obstacle. He stumbled through jutting roots and overhanging branches while Hanzo marched on, unfazed. 

"The obvious things, Jesse. We'll find food and shelter," Hanzo replied, tone curt.

"Ain't eatin' whatever you get," The Blackwatch Hunter promised. 

"You will," There was no hesitation in his voice. "You will if you want me to keep you around long enough to guarantee Gabriel's revenge. Disobedience and I will stake you here and now."

"I'm feelin' fine. No need to gorge myself," Jesse declared, bristling at orders as he was known to do.

"Hungry fledglings are dangerous. I cannot risk putting mortals in danger because you are too stupid with pride," Hanzo finally glanced at him, the look sharp with annoyance. "It will be too late by the time you realize your own hunger."

Jesse had to chew on his lip to keep himself from snapping back at Hanzo. His pride flared, wanting to defend himself and his own humanity, but the last day had proven him wrong. No amount of talking could undo the fact that he had mauled that man without a thought, without even a single moment of hesitation. Nothing could undo the gnarl of guilt that twisted his core. 

_ Hurt no mortal. _

The heavy Blackwatch coat felt heavier on his shoulders, enough that Jesse had entertained the idea of abandoning it. But the protection that the thick leather offered was too valuable, and Jesse refused to let Hanzo see him weak. Still, he could not repel the growing shame of corrupting the Blackwatch name with his very existence.

Blackwatch was everything to Gabe, and here Jesse sullied it.

"Does Genji know you're still alive?" Jesse asked in attempt to distract his own spiraling thoughts. It was cruel, but it made him feel better to focus on Hanzo. Besides, he had a natural curiosity for someone he long thought dead-- or at least beyond the rational state of mind that mortals seemed to pride themselves on.

"He does," Hanzo answered simply as if the weight of those two words didn't mean much. "He is the only one who does."

Jesse stopped in his tracks. He had asked the question, but had assumed that there was only one correct answer. For all the time that Jesse had known Hanzo, his relationship with his brother had always been a point of deep frustration and contempt. "He's seen you like this?"

"Of course," The vampire huffed, seemingly annoyed by the questions. "He found me about a year after we last saw each other."

"And?" The Hunter leaned forward. Genji Shimada had a reputation for indulging in pleasures over duty, but it did not change the ferocity of his Hunting. As often as the younger Shimada strayed from his clan's responsibilities, he more than made up for in the quantity of his bounties.

"I will not lie. He reacted in the same way as you by attacking me," Hanzo trudged on with the expectation that Jesse would match his pace. "The idiot injured himself in the process and realized that I was not some mindless animal when I did nothing to his blood."

A year after turning and Hanzo had control, Jesse quietly noted to himself as he nodded. But how many had to die awful deaths to reach that point? In all of his years of Hunting vampires, he had known more than enough that never gained such control.

"He let you go?" Jesse asked softly. When Hanzo had first been lost to the night, Jesse had made a rather public declaration that he would be the one to fulfill the Hunter's Oath for the Shimada. Though it was often the right of kin or clan, many had ceded to Jesse out of respect for both the Blackwatch name and their affections for each other.

Genji had been one of the few not to cede to Jesse, arguing that it was his right as Hanzo's brother, as the new heir to the Shimada clan. Once friends, Jesse and Genji had clashed over the right to bear the Hunter's Oath for Hanzo. They had fought, vicious and prideful, until both of their fists and faces bled. 

It wasn't long after that that Genji had disappeared. Not taken, many reassured, but he had gone off to some far off country to lick his wounds.

"People can change. I am no longer the Hanzo you remember and he is no longer the Genji you remember. He sees the world as I do. Full of cruel, monstrous creatures who are both mortal and not," The cryptic words unsettled Jesse.

"And what are you gonna do about that?" Jesse prodded.

"Continue Hunting. It is why I continue to live, why I resist the Hunter's Oath to lie down and die for what I am. I cannot rest when my eyes have been opened to all the machinations that we missed as naive Hunters," The vampire spoke with such resolve that it threw Jesse for a loop.

He was silenced by his own curiosity as to what Hanzo meant by such a declaration. Hanzo seemed to sense such internal turmoil that he continued on. "Did you know that the same curse that claimed you and many of my clan was a product of mortal men?"

"What?"

"It was designed to be a weapon. To weaken an army from the inside. Humans, ones that you and I have always protected, were the source of such darkness," Hanzo paused, allowing Jesse to process such information before asking none too gently. "Do you believe those mortals deserve a Hunter's protection?"

"That ain't right, Hanz'" Jesse started, still at a loss for words. There were stories sacred to Hunters that laid out the origins of monsters and none of them pointed to mankind as the origin.

"But it is," Hanzo smiled though the expression did not reach his eyes. "Rumors have it that the origins of werewolves and vampires are much the same. All a simple product, a weapon to use against other humans, by a mad doctor named O'Deorain."

"Rumors are just rumors," Jesse responded lowly, skeptical. 

"Have you ever met a vampire older than two hundred years? None appear in these lands until O'Deorain. The Shimada clan is one of the oldest Hunting clans, but our lineage goes back only a few generations."

"That doesn't mean she literally invented everything wrong with this world, Hanzo."

"We are headed for  Adlersbrunn , are we not? Do you know where O'Deorain once lived?" Hanzo was smirking as he placed another puzzle piece before Jesse.

"That doesn't mean anything. It's just a coincidence," Jesse had always known Hanzo to be a man of reason. The archer had boasted an incredible amount of knowledge when they had met that Jesse's own pride could be faulted for the tumultuous nature of their beginnings. 

Hanzo snorted. "Then you can continue believing your fairy tales."

 

* * *

 

The moon sat lower in the sky by the time they reached the edge of the Black Forest where a trading outpost existed. Though it was late, rowdiness seeped into the streets from the inns and pubs that had windows glowing with light. Jesse began walking towards the closest one until Hanzo grabbed his hand. 

"Stay here until I find someone for you and a room to stay in," Hanzo instructed, pulling Jesse back into the cover of the forest. 

Jesse opened his mouth to protest, but he didn't. He hadn't been in the company of humans since that fateful night and the anxiety of losing control in the middle of them gnawed at his stomach. He grimaced as he nodded. They had already reached this point. Jesse couldn't risk a stake to the heart knowing that confronting the Grey Woman was just on the horizon. 

An hour passed before Hanzo returned with another man in tow. The man followed, eyes glassy and face relaxed, but walking of his own volition. Jesse chewed on his lower lip, recognizing it as a vampire's Glamour. As much as it sickened him, he knew that he would have to feed. It was either now or later when he was too far gone to care who or how.

"Before you ask, I thoroughly checked him," Hanzo's eyes flashed with contempt. "It is very fortunate that there are rumors of werewolves around here for the town to explain away this man's crimes."

Jesse grimaced as he looked the man over. He was attractive with green eyes paired with chestnut hair. He imagined that were it not for the Glamour, the man before him would have a winning smile complete with dimples. Charm and sweet words surely must have garnered the man many favors.

"He'll do," Jesse conceded. He stepped forward and placed his hands on the man's shoulder before freezing. Was he supposed to just bite down? Tear? Jesse was at a loss without instinct to guide him, even moreso as his own disgust curled into his limbs.

"Right here," Hanzo murmured, tracing a rather prominent vein with a finger. "Bite there and suck, but do not get lost in it. Greed may overcome you, but resist it lest you want to make a mess."

Jesse nodded as he leaned forward. From a distance, one might mistake the pair's positioning as rather intimate. The Hunter could feel the soft, warm sweeps of breath by his ear from the human, reminding him that he was still very much alive despite his relative stillness. Alive and human.

And despicable, Jesse had to remind himself. 

Jesse gripped the man's shoulders tightly before he sank his fangs into the mark that Hanzo has traced for him. He groaned as blood splashed onto his tongue and began to feed, hunger awoken by its meal. The man, startled by the sudden pain, cried out and began to thrash in Jesse's hold. But his hands remained steady in its grip, tightening further as his meal tried to escape. 

A near animalistic growl vibrated from the back of his throat as he ushed the meal to the ground, lips firmly latched onto the open wound. Jesse continued to feed, starting to feel his own consciousness slip away just as the mortal man began to weaken in his hands. But he wanted more-- He pulled back in order to bite again, wanting more. This wasn't enough! He had to have more _, more-_ -

Cold fingers slipping into his hair paused his movements. "Remember, Jesse, resist it," Hanzo encouraged patiently.

The interruption was enough to bring Jesse back to his senses. He nodded, slowing his movements and returning to his meal's neck to drain the last of the blood. The man had stilled in his arms, which Jesse tried hard not to focus on. He was quietly thankful when Hanzo pulled him off, wiped the blood from Jesse's lips, and disappeared with the body hauled over his shoulders. 

"It gets easier each time," Hanzo assured when he returned. He wiped a few stray flecks of blood from Jesse's face and led them towards the inn. The moon had sunk low in the sky, and their time outside was limited by the impending daylight.

The inn that Hanzo had chosen was familiar for its thick, stale scent of ale, and the raucous noise from where the patrons escaped their problems. What Jesse hadn't expected was how much the smell and the sounds made his head ache. It felt as though everything had been magnified by a certain degree. Odors too strong. Conversations too loud. Jesse momentarily panicked, unable to focus in the cacophony assaulting his senses. 

"Come," Hanzo's soft command was a lifeline in the sea of stimulation. Jesse readily followed the other vampire upstairs where the noise had dulled considerably. He guided them to a room that held a modest bed, and the tiniest of windows. 

Hanzo was quiet as he immediately began to seal the window with thick fabric. The ease and speed with which he did it spoke to the practiced nature of the ritual. Jesse took a seat on the edge of the bed after making sure the door to their room was firmly locked. 

"Did she teach you all of that?" Jesse asked as Hanzo began to check the window for any missed spots. 

Hanzo glanced over at him as he considered the question. "No, she didn't."

Jesse's lips tightened into a thin line as he thought back to how closely he had nearly crossed over into losing it again. Jesse had always considered himself to be a rather stubborn man with a strong force of will, but all of that slipped away to feral instinct. It left him beyond helpless, feeling like a captive audience to a gruesome play. 

He could not imagine what his most recent meal would have been like without Hanzo guiding him through it.

"Her name was Ashe. Elizabeth Caledonia Ashe. Do you know that name?" 

Jesse shook his head. His education had been pitiful in comparison to Hanzo, who had been groomed for Shimada leadership since before he was born.

"She was an early Hunter. One of the first," Hanzo finished securing the window before turning to Jesse. "Her mortal life was cut short when Dr. O'Deorain used her to start a new lineage of vampires. A voluntary decision."

Jesse's eyes narrowed as Hanzo brought the conversation back to the concept of manmade monsters. For as long as he had known, the creatures of the night had crawled out from their slumber to ravage the lands. Their source had always been mysterious, as if they had been formed from Mother Nature like every other predator out there. Mankind were victims, not perpetrators, in the birth of monsters.

To think that every monster he had hunted had once had its origins in humans disturbed him. To think that his parents and every comrade in battle had been killed because a human had once deigned their guns and arrows to be insufficient. It chilled him to his bones to consider how twisted a human would be to introduce the nightly terrors that Hunters gave their lives to protect. Or to choose such a despicable path as a Hunter.

He couldn't believe it if only to maintain his affection for mankind.

"But you killed her, didn't you?" Jesse asked cautiously. He thought back on that night many months ago when Hanzo had burst back into his life, begging for help. Back then, Jesse hadn't thought twice about dismissing Hanzo. So fervent was his beliefs in a vampire's depravity.

"I did. I ripped off her head," Hanzo took a step forward. Their room was dark besides the light from their candle. The orange light intensified the reds of his eyes. "Even as she used her will as my sire to order me not to, I managed. I did not think it was possible, but I did it."

Jesse swallowed thickly. He had to wonder how much longer it took for Hanzo after their first encounter or what he had to endure to do such a Herculean task. But he was too much of a coward to venture into such curiosities. 

"I had to," Hanzo murmured. "She would starve me then throw me into a family's home for her own entertainment. Sometimes she would throw me at Hunters knowing what my tattoo would mean to them."

"Must have been Hell," Jesse answered, soft and gentle as if he was afraid to disturb Hanzo's thoughts too much.

"I learned though. I figured out how to control myself bit by bit when she was away."

"You're an overachiever like that, aren't ya?"

"Perhaps," Hanzo snorted before continuing on. "When she realized your significance to me, she ordered me to go after you. She would have delighted in having me maul you."

Hanzo spoke the words with such neutrality that it took Jesse a moment to feel the brevity of them. He shivered, imagining the amount of torment such a command would have caused. Jesse could barely resist his own instincts. What did Hanzo have to do to resist the call of a command?

"But you didn't," Jesse pointed out.

"I didn't," The corner of Hanzo's curved upwards into a grim smile. "I took her head instead."

The revelation silenced Jesse for a good moment. Guilt and shame flooded over him as he thought back to how mindlessly he had attacked Hanzo that night so long ago. Jesse had always thought that what he was doing was for the best. That he was doing what had to be done for Hanzo's sake. 

But he had been wrong this entire time.

"She'd still be fuckin' around if it weren't for you," Jesse stated with some finality. He shook his head, digging his fingers through his mop of hair. "Shit. I almost staked you once."

Hanzo laughed, shaking his head. "You will never be good enough for that."

Jesse smiled, warmed by the familiarity of the teasing. It reminded him of being young and impulsive. Of being so attracted to the Shimada heir that he would make an ass himself more often than not. Of teasing and prodding Hanzo so meanly and frequently that his crush on the other Hunter had been obvious to anyone who saw the two.

"The sun will be up soon," Hanzo noted as the warmth between them began to fade. He got down on the ground, intending to let Jesse have the bed. It was only meant for one, but Hanzo had deemed it unnecessary to buy a bigger room. The floor didn't bother him when he slept like the dead. 

"Come here," Jesse pushed himself further back onto the bed. He patted the space beside him. "Ain't lettin' you get all dirty like that."

Hanzo hesitated from where he was. There was still so much left unresolved between the two of them that he had to wonder if this would be alright. A piece of him still resented Jesse, and he knew that Jesse felt no peace with the current matters. But he yearned to return to gentler times when the two would often crash into bed together. 

The Shimada got up from the bed and slowly slipped into the space allotted to him. Jesse accommodated for him by inching back, but it was inevitable that they would be pressed up against each other. He held himself still, nearly wishing he had gotten into the bed with his back to Jesse so he wouldn't have to meet the Hunter's gaze. 

"This okay?" Jesse asked as he rested his hand on Hanzo's shoulder. His fingers twitched as they traced the familiar blue ink. He wanted to do more, but remembered the vampire's claim that he was no longer the Hanzo that Jesse knew. 

"Yes," Hanzo assured as he slowly let the tension escape his muscles. 

"You don't mind?" Jesse squeezed the shoulder gently and reminded himself what it was like to hold Hanzo. His hand yearned to travel further along the arm and to re-acquaint the hard planes and thick muscles. He kept still, however, unsure of where going too far would be.

"It is not unpleasant," Hanzo confirmed softly. He emphasized this point by burying a hand in Jesse's hair, missing its softness.

Jesse grinned, putting aside all of his troubles to focus on this one moment before them. His hand trailed from Hanzo's shoulder down to his neck. He held it there for a moment before his thumb prodded at the leather cord. "You kept it?"

His thumb hooked beneath the leather to lift it out from beneath Hanzo's shirt. Matching Jesse's, the crystal was similarly broken and dull in color. Jesse had to wonder what would have happened to him, and anyone else, if Hanzo had not held onto the matching crystal. Would he be out there fully consumed by the curse and preying on the weak?

"Why wouldn't I?" Hanzo challenged with such nonchalance that had Jesse snorting softly. 

"Of course," Jesse mumbled more to himself. He could feel his eyes start to droop so he let go of the necklace and settled on pulling Hanzo closer. There was no way of knowing for sure if they would get another chance like this so Jesse greedily took advantage. If he was going to die soon, he'd rather it be after knowing he could hold Hanzo like this again.

Hanzo resisted the Sun's call to sleep for a moment longer to watch Jesse drift away. He sighed, pressing closer to the Blackwatch Hunter, and confessed to Jesse's sleeping form. 

 

"I wish you would stay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Art](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com/post/184077777486/hello-people-i-am-glad-to-finally-post-my-two) from [aerascreamer](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com) (+ [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aerascreamer/)).
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> [follow me on tumblr](egoblow.tumblr.com)


	8. Chapter 8

With night came a new start. Jesse woke to the weight of Hanzo's arm still slung over his side. He stilled, blinking back the weight of sleep before his eyes focused on the man before him. Hanzo returned his gaze, his hand on Jesse tightening for just a moment to hold him there.

"I missed this," Hanzo admitted softly.

"So did I," Jesse curled in a little closer. They would have another long night ahead of them, but he wanted to stay here with his hands around Hanzo's solid form. He wanted to hold Hanzo close and believe that monsters didn't exist, that his own fangs and claws didn't exist, that the world they found himself was just a figment of his imagination if only to stay like this for a while longer. 

How long had it been since he had last held Hanzo like this? Too long. Far too long if his hands felt clumsy and unsure as they traveled across the length of Hanzo's arm. He squeezed lightly and remembered the amount of power held within the thick cords of muscle. He leaned forward, and vaguely thought to blame his newfound impulses for what he did next.

Jesse pressed his lips against Hanzo's. It was devastatingly chaste, so unlike the biting, hungry way they used to collide. He barely ghosted over Hanzo's lips before beginning to pull away in fear of what he had just done. But just as he started to put distance between them, Hanzo chased after him and capture his lower lip gently.

The Hunter sighed into the kiss, pulling Hanzo closer until the Shimada was practically on top of him. He slipped a hand into thick, black hair and kept Hanzo firmly in place to enjoy the taste of the other vampire. His other hand roamed freely over the vampire, slipping beneath the shirt to explore the expanses of smooth skin.

A hunger began to burn within him, similar in greed, but of a different variety than the one had felt in the past few days. He wanted Hanzo, wanted him in the way he had once indulged in so frequently. Yet as Jesse began to lose himself to that insatiable impulse that drove him now, Hanzo placed a hand in the center of his chest and pushed him down.

"We mustn't," Hanzo declared and frowned as though he regretted making such a statement.

"Don't see why," Jesse huffed, trying to rise and meet Hanzo's lips again.

"Stop," Hanzo ordered. Jesse froze in position with a snarl, that feral part detesting such a command. "We need to go."

Jesse blinked dumbly at him, momentarily forgetting what could be so important to supersede this. He grimaced as he remembered his mission, remembered that there was only one reason for his continued existence. It wasn't to tangle limbs with Hanzo, but to seek out the Grey Woman.

"Sorry," Jesse gritted out, frustrated at himself for how easily he had indulged.

Hanzo looked similarly embarrassed as he climbed off of Jesse. He straightened out his clothes and quickly pulled his hair back. "No, I should have been in control. Get ready."

Awkward silence hung in the tiny space between them. As Hanzo removed the thick fabric that protected them during daylight, Jesse did a quick and dirty clean of his gun. Satisfied that it would shoot as smoothly as it always did, Jesse put it away and tidied up their bed. He smoothed away the wrinkles in the covers until all evidence of their occupation of the bed had disappeared.

The silence persisted as they left the inn and returned to the roads. So caught up in their own anxieties of what had just transgressed, neither of them noticed the pair of eyes that watched them leave.

 

* * *

 

Adlersbrunn drew nearer, marked by the taller trees that grew more gnarled with each step. Adlersbrunn was a populous town, but the Black Forest that marked its boundaries was one of legend. They claimed that fairies danced on the edges and lured in unsuspecting mortals. The howls that filtered through to the town were said to be the ghastly songs of werewolves while others spoke of the spirits of the freshly deceased to linger by the mouth of the forest. Something about the Black Forest seemed to draw all the terrors of the night to it like some powerful magnet. 

Regardless of whatever lore the townspeople floated around, most Hunters knew the Black Forest as a place where many, not even themselves, could not escape from easily. Evil lurked within its confines, and only fools wishing for death ventured in alone.

Jesse had been with Gabe when the Gray Woman had found them so perhaps they had both been brave fools to think themselves above such cautions. The Gray Woman had been stronger than anything he had ever encountered and to overpower the legendary Gabriel Reyes? He could only hope that the gifts of vampirism would be enough.

"She needs to die. No matter what," Jesse declared. It was the first thing he had said besides mild questions and directions since leaving their inn. "You hear me?"

"I think I understand that quite well, Jesse. You, yourself, have gone through such extreme measures to ensure that," Hanzo replied coolly. He had paused in his movements to regard the Blackwatch Hunter. "Do you doubt my skills?"

"No- Just- Never seen anythin' like her, Hanzo. Even if she gets me. Even if I scream and yell for you, don't stop until she's dead. Truly dead dead," Jesse spoke with such conviction, red eyes ablaze with such an intensity that Hanzo was suddenly reminded him of what had attracted him to the Blackwatch Hunter. "It doesn't matter what happens to me. Remember that."

Hanzo nodded though he felt oddly numb. "And I will ask the same of you. She must be exterminated."

"Good," Jesse nodded, holding out his hand to shake on it. "I've always known you to be a man of your word."

Hanzo accepted the shake. "A Shimada is nothing without his honor."

The Shimada began to separate from the handshake, but a sharp point greeted his back. He froze, knowing that the spot that the tip nudged was aligned with where his heart rested. A gun slicked from the side of his head. Hanzo followed the gleam of metal to see that it was pointed right at Jesse's heart. He looked at Jesse, trying to understand what the Blackwatch Hunter was looking at without having to move.

"Fucking amateurs," A gravelly voice growled out from behind Hanzo.

"Jack?" Jesse asked.

Jack barked with laughter though the once joyful sound had soured into something cruel. "Gabe would be ashamed if he saw you two now. You two were always too caught up with yourselves to pay attention."

"Are you searching for Reyes?" Hanzo asked, body still. Though a vampire had the advantage of speed, he had to wonder if both he and Jesse would be fast enough to dodge the seasoned Hunter's attacks.

"And O'Deorain," Jack confirmed.

Hanzo could have laughed as Jesse's eyes widened at the name. He felt a burst of smug pride even with the stake pressed against his back. Jesse glanced at Hanzo before turning his attention back to Jack.

"O'Deorain lived a long time ago," Jesse pointed out.

Both Hanzo and Jack snorted at the statement. Jack cursed beneath his breath before he answered, "And Shimada over here hasn't aged a day. So what?"

"I told you," Hanzo hissed at Jesse. The Blackwatch Hunter opened his mouth to protest, but Jack intervened.

"The last time I saw you, you were with Gabe and mortal. What happened?" Jack demanded, the aim of his gun unwavering.

"I turned him," Hanzo interjected before Jesse could say anything. "He had been cursed."

"By what?"

"The Dorchadas," Hanzo locked eyes with Jesse, wondering briefly if he would be strong enough to break the news.

"It caught Gabe first," Jesse stated forcefully, unwilling to let anyone else bear this burden. "I grabbed him, but I guess it had already been spreading."

Jesse lifted his left arm to show Jack, but there was no mark of the curse. The swirling darkness had disappeared along with the warmth of his body. A curse that lived with life had died when Jesse McCree had.

"I'm going to kill him when this is over, Morrison. I promised him that," Hanzo stated evenly. Jesse seemed to grimace at the statement, but nodded along. "After I help avenge Reyes, I will be the one to fulfill the Hunter's Oath for Jesse. You shall respect that."

There was silence from behind him before the gun and the jab of the stake pulled away. Jack slipped both weapons back into his belt as he declared, "Then you'll respect my claim to give Gabe his peace."

"Wouldn't dream of anything else," Jesse responded easily with a small smile. He added in a softer, "Glad to have ya, honestly."

"You are not bothered by our nature?" Hanzo had to ask as the blond stepped past them to continue down the path.

"A vampire worth their salt would have Glamoured me," Jack gave a meaningful look at Jesse. "Or their speed. Their strength. There's a hundred different ways a pair of vampires could have overpowered a single human Hunter if they had any intent to."

"That is still a lot of trust to place with us," Hanzo reasoned.

Jack shrugged. "Let's just say that you're not the first one I've encountered who Hunts with mortals. You're not the only ones looking for O'Deorain." 

"You thinkin' she's the one who hurt Gabe?" Jesse asked, brows furrowed.

"Yes," Jack answered with finality. "O'Deorain was a doctor who found a way to manipulate life itself."

"And created all the ghouls, werewolves, and vampires of this world?" Hanzo finished quietly.

"And made the Dorchadas," Jack nodded. "All because she craved immortality and then deigned herself some sort of god."

Jesse grabbed the blond man's arm to halt him. The older Hunter reacted less than kindly with his free hand gripping a stake. It took him a moment to relax his reflexes enough to put it back in his belt.

"Do you know what she looks like?" The fledgling asked, eyes sparked with intensity.

"Eyes like stars, skin as ashen as Death itself."

Jesse's grip on Jack's arm tightened momentarily before he forced himself to let go. He nodded, finally putting a name to the Grey Woman who had doomed him to such a life. "Yeah. Yeah, that's her. She's the one I saw before things all went to shit."

The fledgling curled his hands into fists. Just thinking about her brought forth a torrent of emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. He shut his eyes and cursed softly to himself as he tried to calm himself. But the image of the Grey Woman- O'Deorain- haunted him and stoked the fires of his rage. He wanted to kill her, wanted to make her suffer in the same way that he imagined Gabe had before he had been consumed by the Dorchadas.

A hand slowly pressed against the back of his neck. It slowly kneaded his muscles and gave him something new to focus on. Like a leash, it guided him back to the present and gave him an anchor as he unwound the flurry of feral emotions. When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring at Hanzo. The Shimada stood in front of him and just behind him was the telltale glint of metal. Jack had drawn his gun again, watching Jesse with the skepticism of a well-seasoned warrior. Jesse slowly raised his hands in surrender, shame washing over him after allowing Jack to witness such a moment.

"He's fine," Hanzo stated with such sharp confidence that Jesse nearly believed it himself.

"Doesn't look it," Jack observed him for a moment longer before he finally relaxed his position. "How long?"

"This is his third night."

Jack and Hanzo held each other's eyes for just a moment before Jack shook his head and moved on. He muttered to himself. "I shouldn't be surprised."

The trio moved on. Jesse felt tempted to prod Jack with questions as he watched the blond man march on ahead. But the way his shoulders sagged with a deep-boned exhaustion and the way his blue eyes darted around the forest made each moment seem inopportune.

An uneasiness had settled over them a set of boulders embedded into the side of an incline came into view. Jesse didn't know what it was, but some subconscious instinct had him on edge at the very sight, like his body knew something that he didn't. The moon was just overcoming its highest post in the starless sky when he felt the muted throb in his left arm. He clenched and unclenched his hand to make the throb disappear, but little seemed to affect it.

The Blackwatch Hunter moved ahead of Jack and Hanzo to inspect the boulders. He felt a pull, just a slight one that kept suggesting that he step closer. He moved around it, looking the expanse of rock over until his eyes settled on a dark passage. A mouth to a cave. It was tall enough for him to comfortably stand in if he wanted to. He stood by the entrance and peered in, the darkness both welcoming and shunning him at the same time. Jesse stepped back cautiously and returned to his companions.

"There's a cave over there," He pointed. "Big one."

Jesse glanced at Hanzo, about to ask him what they should do next, when he noticed the bit of blue lighting up Jack's face.

A crystal like the ones that Hanzo and Jesse had hung whole and pristine from Jack's neck. The blond Hunter held it up with his left hand while drawing his gun with his right. He chewed on his lower lip as the light began to glow with more intensity, illuminating the exhaustion etched onto his face.

"Morrison!" Hanzo jerked into motion and intercepted a shadowy figure that had burst out from the brush towards Jack. Hanzo went tumbling off to the side, grappling the form that had intended to attack the blond Hunter.

The Shimada briefly managed to overpower the form. For the briefest of moments, the void that seemed to suck away any light in its presence dissipated enough for Jesse to make out the visage of his former mentor. Eyes pure white, it let out an unholy shriek before thrashing in Hanzo's hold. A flicker of blue light glimmered occasionally through the shadows.

"Gabe. It's Gabe," Jack called out, stunned for just a bare moment before he was lining up a shot. "Hold him still!"

A clear shot line was hopeless though. Hanzo and the monster that had once been Gabriel Reyes, leader of the Blackwatch clan, were evenly matched. They wrestled for control, their bodies a tumbling mass.

"Hanzo!" Jesse moved to help the Shimada, but a vicious grip grabbed his hair.

"How resourceful," A voice cooed in his ear. "You survived."

Jesse jerked his elbow back and collided with a body as cold as ice. The figure laughed as it tightened its grip on Jesse's hair. The fledgling could catch momentary glimpses of grey skin as he thrashed.

"What a fascinating solution," Moira O'Deorain laughed, cruel and mocking. "To think you would give yourself like that."

Jesse grabbed Moira's wrist in an attempt to free himself. His body twisted and turned, contorting in an attempt to escape the painful grip, but there was little that seemed to help. He growled, the sound ripped from his throat in a terrifying, guttural fashion.

"Gonna rip your head out," Jesse promised, flashing fangs and digging his claws deep into the Grey Woman's wrists. O'Deorain bled black, trails like ink dripping down from where she had been cut. The vampire's eyes widened at the scent of blood. The reds of his eyes disappeared almost completely as they were overtaken by dilated pupils. He let out another vicious growl, sounding more like a cornered animal than a man and thrashed anew.

"Such a flawed creation," Moira sneered. "How can you fight the origin of your survival? Ashe's blood flows through you, and what was Ashe's is mine."

Moira gripped Jesse's chin and jerked his head painfully to the side to meet his eyes. There was no iris or pupil for him to focus on, only a soft white glow much like the stars that littered the night sky.

The Blackwatch Hunter tried to look away, but found himself enraptured by the glow. It was hypnotic in a way even if there was no point within the white to focus on. The Gray Woman smiled as she felt the Hunter began to relax in her grip as though all the fight that had been in him had started to leak out. As though he ceased to care.

And now, as he thought about it, he truly didn't. He was going to die in the end, wasn't he? What did it matter if he did anything now? There would always be more terrors of the night, more monsters to kill... A Hunter's life was exhausting in its unending nature.

And truly, he was so tired. Tired of always being on edge, of always wondering when the night would claim him like it did his father, mother, and--

_Hanzo._

Jesse nearly managed to jerk his head to the side, but the Grey Woman kept her hold strong. Any impulse to move away was stamped away as she held his eyes for a moment longer. Jesse fell to his knees without even a sound, dully noting that this wasn't the way things were supposed to happen.

Moira O'Deorain cooed at him. As she leaned in closer, it felt as though all the noise in head was fading away. As if all of the funny distractions of his own thoughts were getting buried beneath a blissful blank slate. Jesse slumped a little to the side, welcoming the way the Grey Woman's gaze seemed to make all of the troubles weighing down his mind begin to fly away as if they were never meant to live there in the first place.  

"I will use you to destroy your companions. I will have you rip their heads off as you promised."

Jesse nodded, accepting that singular vow as a lonely occupant to the emptying space of his mind. The world around him had dulled except for the brilliance of O'Deorain's eyes. They reminded him of the Sun, a searing blaze of light that would surely burn him if he got too close. Distantly, he thought about how much he missed the kisses of warmth on his skin from the Sun. Oh, how it made him tired to think he would never see it again...

A gun burst in a rapid sequence of shots not too far from where he knelt on the ground. Perhaps it was something that he should be troubled by, but he motivate the desire to turn and look.

"Jesse!"

Someone had shouted his name, but he remained as he was. On his knees and watching with rapt interest as the white eyes of the Grey Woman closed. He watched as she fell backwards, hissing with such ferocity that it began to cut through the muffled quality of his mind.

But then he caught the scent of metal and something more. Blood like ink began to pool at the three points where bullets had pierced the Grey Woman's body. Jesse stared, fixated by the sight. The newfound voice that lurked just beneath his conscious thought cried out at the sight in joy.  _Want. Want. Need. **Need.**_ It seemed to scream, thirsting for a taste of that blood to replenish his energy.

There was something else to it too.. Jesse soon realized that that something more he sensed with the coppery smell was an intangible quality that spoke to some subconscious piece of his mind. The feral part, the one that acted in selfish preservation for itself.

It smelled of strength, and the promise of power.

The Blackwatch Hunter launched himself at the Grey Woman almost immediately upon the realization. He slammed into her, ruthless as he drove fangs at her shoulder. O'Deorain snarled in fury, dragging sharp claws down the expanse of Jesse's back. His body lit up in pain, but it did little to slow him as he tore into grey flesh. It was too late. His lips had already latched onto a wound.

The inky essence made him feel warm and good, alive in a way that he had never felt before. His eyes nearly rolled to the back of his head at the taste. It was beyond bitter, but tasted of promises. The promise of vitality, of vigor, of power that he could only dream to obtain.

Jesse floated, losing all track of time. All he was conscious of was drinking, occasionally biting back down on the shoulder to tear flesh anew. 

It was delicious and intoxicating, even moreso than what Hanzo had first fed him. He felt drunk on the taste, the feral voice in his mind sated and soothed as he began to pull himself away. Satisfied. 

Jesse was slow to realize that it was Jack who had shot O'Deorain. The blond Hunter had crossed over to his space and stood with a gun pointed at O'Deorain. Just beyond him was Hanzo, who seemed to hold a tangle of darkness in his arms. It thrashed in his hold with such intensity that it was impressive to see the Shimada restrain it so effectively.

Jesse turned his gaze to Moira O'Deorain. The once human doctor laid on the ground beside him, skin ashen as death, which contrasted sharply with the smattering of inky blood. She gasped for breath, but struggled from vicious tears along her throat.

From himself, Jesse noted vaguely. He could still taste her powerful blood on his lips and felt an urge to feast again.

He watched, too intoxicated on the blood coursing through his veins to register any real feeling, as Jack stood over the the Grey Woman's form. One of her hands grabbed a hold of his ankles, claws tearing into the Hunter's skin. The blond man merely gritted his teeth, even as the golden hues of his hair began to fade to white in return for stitching up grey flesh, and pulled the trigger of his gun.

Once, twice. And then twice more.

Jack Morrison paused. And shot thrice more until the clawed hand fell away from his ankle.

"Dead?" Jesse asked. His tongue lapped at his bottom lip, wondering if he should return to drain O'Deorain to the last drop. 

Jack huffed before emptying his gun into her chest. He looked Jesse in the eye as he pulled out a stake and slammed it hard into the spot over her heart. Or at least where it would be if Moira O'Deorain, the source of humanity's worst nightmare, had one.

"Dead," Jack declared with finality.

There was a soft thud as Hanzo fell backwards. The shadowy form, which seemed to carry the visage of the once feared Blackwatch leader, straddled the Shimada. There was little hesitation as Jack lunged forward to grab Jesse's Peacekeeper. He shot once before his thumb tripped up on the unfamiliar gun in his hand.

The bullet had hit as the shadowy figure tumbled backwards, screeching.

"Jack," It rasped, sounding like wind spitting through a broken window.

"Gabe," Jack answered, sounding 

"That is hardly Reyes," Hanzo clarified as he picked himself off the ground.

"Don't," Jack growled before the Shimada could move closer to the dark lump curled on the ground. "He's mine."

In response, the shadowy lump rasped again, " _Jack._ "

Hanzo nodded, knowing better than to cross the famed Hunter Jack Morrison. He chose to survey the Grey Woman, whose form had gone completely still.

"Jack did it, but I'll still count it for you," Jesse joked though the brevity of the situation had weakened the humor in his tone. 

"As long as she is dead," Hanzo replied with some reluctance.

He knew what that meant. They both did.

Hanzo thought back to the kiss they had earlier and regretted thinking about it. The fresh memory of holding Jesse McCree in his arms again would make keeping his promise all the more difficult, but he had given his word. The Hunter's Oath was a promise Jesse wanted, and it was not Hanzo's choice to prevent it. He was a selfish man, and would keep Jesse McCree around for as long time continued to move for him. But he knew that wasn't what Jesse wanted. He had known ever since he had forced Jesse into his first meal. A life without bounds, without the Sun, without the naivete of mortality, always feasting on the vitality of others... Hanzo knew that it was not meant for Jesse McCree.

He knew that, but it was still so hard to accept.

"The Sun will be up soon," Hanzo stated. Did he want to drag this out for another night? Perhaps he could persuade Jesse or even dampen his own greed in that time. How many days would have to pass before Jesse would accept such a life?

"I know, darlin'," Jesse made no move to get up. "Reckon you can take shelter in those caves back there."

"It should be sufficient, yes," Hanzo agreed, watching as Jesse remained where he was. "And ... you?"

"Go on ahead without me," Jesse smiled up at him through the cryptic words. "I'll catch up."

"I promised that I would. I will do it for you," Hanzo growled out. "And I--

"Always keep your promises. I know, I know," Jesse soothed. "You already stabbed me in the heart once. Figured that's plenty."

Hanzo stared down at him, eyes scrutinizing every minute bit of his expression. "Are you sure?"

"Mm, seems easier if you ask me. Better than forcin' you to watch me die again. You can just go to bed without a worry."

Without a worry, Hanzo thought bitterly. He could not bear the thought of simply doing nothing though he knew it to be preferable than staking Jesse again. He rather hold Jesse close and do it then leave Jesse alone to be burned away by the Sun. Wouldn't it be painful? The Sun? His thoughts started to spiral out of control, and it was only by the gentle squeeze from Jesse that kept him from descending further into the madness. 

"C'mon Hanzo, the Sun," Jesse urged. 

Hanzo stared down at where Jesse sat. He was tempted to join the Blackwatch Hunter and have himself die here with his former partner. But there was still much to be done, so many monsters to kill and people to protect. Though his unbeating heart ached, he nodded. "I understand. Thank you."

At least he would not have to watch Jesse die again.

"I should be thankin' you, pumpkin," Jesse gestured at Hanzo to get closer.The Shimada did, stepping closer until Jesse tilted his head back.

Jesse held Hanzo's face in both his hands. He pulled him just close enough until their lips touched, soft and slow. They shared their final kiss chaste and sweet like new lovers. Hanzo was loathe to pull away, but he could feel the weight begin to form in his limbs. He wished he had more time to savor more kisses, but he would ask for an eternity if given just a moment longer. 

"I shall miss you," Hanzo admitted carefully as he stepped back.

Jesse grinned up at him, expression as bright as the Sun. "Same here."

Hanzo turned and made his way towards the cave. He did not dare look back, knowing that if he did then he would doom himself to the daylight just the same.

The Shimada only paused as he passed Jack. The Hunter had his gun pointed at the shadowy form that had once been Gabriel Reyes. His hair shone like starlight now that the strands had lost their sunny hues to O'Deorain. Jack looked at ease with the dark form subdued on the ground. "I'm going to take care of him then I'll stand guard by the cave."

"That will not be necessary, Morrison."

"I'm not doing it for you," Jack answered, allowing Hanzo to fill in the blanks himself.

_I'm doing it for him._

Hanzo nodded. "I appreciate it."

"I'll be gone just before the sun sets," Jack hesitated for just a moment before adding on. "There was no other way. You understand that, don't you?"

"I do," The Shimada stated. He marched on to the entrance of the cave and let the void of darkness wash over him. He kept walking until there was no promise of daylight. The vampire laid down on the ground and held his resolve until the Sun laid him to the day's rest.

* * *

 

When he woke, he was alone. There was no one to greet him, not even the body of the Gray Woman.

He sat by the cave, staring up at the glimpses of the Moon that peeked through the trees. When the Moon hung at its highest point in the night sky, Hanzo rose and left.

Moving on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Art](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com/post/184077777486/hello-people-i-am-glad-to-finally-post-my-two) from [aerascreamer](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com) (+ [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aerascreamer/)).
> 
>  
> 
> [follow me on tumblr](egoblow.tumblr.com)


	9. Chapter 9

**2081.**

A desert was the last place a vampire ever wanted to be. Long, flat expanses with no hope for shade beyond some boulders and caves. The day felt longer out here, but at least the Sun shined so oppressively that he could catch a glimpse of sun-warmed Earth if he was fast enough.

The travelers he had met along the way had mocked him for his voluntary choice to enter the desert.

There's nothing out there.

Only misery and death.

You'll regret it.

But the vampire felt that they had all been ill-informed. The desert at night was a breathtaking sight. For land to go as far as the eye could see with nothing, but a night sky glittering with so many stars that it surely amounted to some sort of treasure. The land had withered out here, and with it any and all bustling activity. But it had left behind a stretch of land that remained untouched by human hands. Even after all of these years, human hands could not tame the desert.

He wished he could stare up at the bejeweled sky forever, but time was precious out in the desert. There was no telling when he would find his next bit of cover from the Sun or a human to snack on. So with his gaze lifted to the heavens, he continued on his lonely trek.

A small diner beckoned him with its bright neon sign that shined like its own star. It glowed like some hopeful beacon, its bright blue glow strangely beautiful despite the weathered age of the sign.

While he was neither tired or hungry, he paused by the diner. The neon glow washed over him and beckoned him inside.

"Take a seat," A bespectacled waiter yawned from where they sat, waving their hand in invitation.

The vampire briefly surveyed the diner and found that most of the booths were empty. A few of them had stray travelers either poking at their food or dozing lightly in the blue vinyl seats.

He chose the booth in the far corner where a dusty cowboy hat rested atop the head of the booth's occupant. The vampire slid into the booth on the opposite side.

It only took one look to silence the man with the cowboy hat. "You cut your hair."

"It looks like you did too."

They shared a small smile at the observation. The man took off his cowboy hat and set it down on the table as if to show off the mess of hair that fell down to the nape of his neck. In contrast, the vampire's hair had been cut closely along the sides with the longer strands pulled up into a neat bun. A precise cut done by professional hands.

"Hanzo," Jesse sighed out, almost reverently.

"Jesse McCree," Hanzo answered, sounding just as astonished to say the name. It tumbled out clumsily, words that hadn't been spoken in so long. 

"Well-- Howdy," Jesse tipped his head in greeting.

"I thought you were dead. Truly dead," The Shimada stated, always to the point. "But here I find you looking like a relic from the past."

"Mhm. Had a bit of fun during the wild west," Jesse chuckled, glancing at the cowboy hat that seemed to be a near-permanent fixture on him now. Henodded, gaze turning to the window. "I thought so too. But Gabe saved me. Kept me away from the Sun."

"Why?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Jesse grinned, playfully evasive.

"Why didn't you come back?" Hanzo clarified.

"Are ya askin' 'cause you came here to kill me?"

"Only if it is still what you want." The Shimada paused for a moment, mulling over his next words before he added on. "I have selfishly always wanted you to remain by my side."

"I know," Jesse smiled as though he had known all this time. He rested his head on his hand, leaning onto his right side. "Guess I panicked. When I woke up. Didn't know what to expect with O'Deorain dead. Didn't know if you'd stake me dead. Or if anyone else from Blackwatch would. So I ran." The Hunter looked rather sheepish as he admitted. "Then I didn't know how to come back."

The Shimada furrowed his brows, simply staring at Jesse McCree, once of the Blackwatch Clan. "I would have been there to welcome you regardless of when or how," The vampire growled out, pain and frustration thick in his voice.

"I know," Jesse laughed, and it seemed to infuriate the other vampire. "I know, sweet pea, I know you would have. That's why I kept runnin'."

"It's been hundreds of years," Hanzo pointed out incredulously.

"Only a few hundred?" Jesse laughed. "I know, Hanzo, I know." The Hunter reached out and grabbed Hanzo's hands. He squeezed them gently before pressing a kiss to them. "Figured I needed some time to know for sure."

"Know what?" Hanzo snapped, frustration and impatience bubbling to the surface in his clipped voice.

"That I'm somebody worth spendin' the rest of forever with you."

Hanzo met Jesse's red gaze as the words sank in. He pulled his hands out of Jesse's grip, but only to cover the Hunter's with his own. He raised them to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to the knuckles. 

"You're a fool," He said with nothing, but affection. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Art](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com/post/184077777486/hello-people-i-am-glad-to-finally-post-my-two) from [aerascreamer](https://aerascreamer.tumblr.com) (+ [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aerascreamer/)).
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